189 



remarked what a debt the next generation owed to him. 

 All over England, in the early part of this century, were 

 masters of hounds and f oxhunters who had served an 

 apprenticeship with Meynell, and considering the extent 

 of country over w^hich he hunted — from Nottingham 

 Trent Bridges to Eockingham Forest, and from the 

 Welland to the Dove — what a vast number of boys of 

 all ranks must have grown up in his forty-seven years 

 of mastership to reverence the name of Meynell ! 

 Several seasons' sport enjoyed with his hounds may be 

 found recorded in Jones' Diary, a journal kept by the 

 whipper-in who officiated under Jack Eaven, and by 

 this one may observe, that there was no perceptible 

 difference between the run of foxes in the last century 

 and the present time. What strikes one most is, that the 

 sportsmen of those days were contented to hunt less 

 often and kill much fewer foxes than is now thought 

 necessary. When Mr. Meynell parted with his hounds 

 and establishment at Quorn to Lord Sefton in 1800, 

 in consequence of his son's illness, Nicholl says, 

 " This veteran sportsman, the oldest foxhunter in the 

 kingdom, who has resided at Quorn for forty-seven 

 years, has purchased a small house belonging to his 

 huntsman, and is going to build some rooms to it, at the 

 back of the kennels, for an occasional residence during 

 the hunting season." The son died that same year, but 

 Mr. Meynell lived till 1808. 



Lord Sefton, 1800 to 1S02.— Died 1838. 



Lord Sefton has the credit of introducing second 

 horses into the Leicestershire hunting-field ; some say 

 in consequence of 7w's great weight, others, in consequence 

 of their great value. 



Lord Foley, 1802 to 1807.— Died 1833. 



