A LAWN " MEET. I45 



I feel that I cannot bring this brief and imperfect 

 resume to a more fitting conclusion than by quoting from 

 an article, written by Mr. (now Sir) Willoughby Maycock, 

 upon the occasion of the last ' Meet ' of the Billesdon Hunt 

 at which Mr. Tailby presided as Master, which appeared 

 in the ' Whitehall Review ' of April 13th, 1878, entitled : — 



A Last Look at Tailby. 



It is Thursday morning, and as we trot with a light heart on 

 to the pretty lawn of listen Grange, the delightful Leicestershire 

 home of that good sportsman Capt. James Baillie, aforetime of 

 the Royal Horse Guards Blue, the warm April sun lights up a 

 picture not lacking in the element of the picturesque, but, 

 indeed, full of that colour in which Whyte Melville and Ouida 

 revel. 



His brightest rays he shed as tho' he meant 

 To gladden Nature but to spoil the scent. 



But cheerful as the scene may be, there is a melancholy interest 

 attaching to this meet in the favourite Leicestershire country, 

 for to-day William Ward Tailby, who has hunted the Billesdon 

 pack for twenty-two years, lays down his whip, and who is to 

 succeed him is better known at Boodles than anywhere else. 

 There is a tremendous field, for all the countryside wants to 

 have ' a last look at Tailby,' and everybody has come to the 

 farewell meet, either on horseback, on wheels, or on foot. 

 Here is Sir Bache Cunard, of polo celebrity, into whose hands 

 the country will, in all probability, go next season. He has 

 already purchased the hounds, and if the " Ouorn Question," — 

 far more talked of in the Shires than the " Eastern Question," 

 and of which we shall have something to say anon — be only 

 settled, as doubtless it will be, in his favour, this part of Leices- 

 tershire will have been fortunate in securing the services of a 

 gentleman in all respects qualified for the onerous duties of a 

 Master. Was it not the immortal John Jorrocks who ruled that 

 ' an M.F.H. should have a good digestion, with a cheerful 

 countenance, and, moreover, should know when to use the 

 clean and when the dirty side of his tongue — when to butter a 

 booby and when to snub a snob ' ? Sir Bache possesses all 

 these attributes and many more of equal value besides. Whom 

 have we next ? Sir Arthur Hazlerigg (a name as well known 



