The Origin of Fox-hunting 



magnitude. A morning view of Melton is quite 

 suggestive of this computation of ^^9,000,000, as at 

 an early hour there will be whole troops of hunters 

 passing up the town for exercise, and inquiry tells 

 you to whom this or that lot belong. They seem 

 as numerous as the thoroughbreds in High Street, 

 Newmarket, and you are led to believe also that 

 they are nearly as valuable. You walk out of the 

 hotel before breakfast, and ask about the various 

 big houses dotted about on all sides, and hear that 

 this one has been taken by a foreign prince with a 

 fabulous fortune, and that his stud numbers thirty. 

 A little farther on you ask again, and the reply 

 gives the name of a well-known millionaire ; and 

 then there is the residence of a noble lord, who has 

 done the right thing at Melton for many seasons. 

 Every house let on tenancy appears to be taken, 

 and many others belong to their owners as hunt- 

 ing-boxes for the season. All the apartments in 

 the hotels will be full by the second week in 

 November, and lodgings of every kind will then be 

 at a premium. Everything in the near preparation 

 of the Melton season indicates immense wealth, 

 and duplicates of the same in smaller degrees are 

 Leamington, Cheltenham, Rugby, York, Grantham, 

 Cirencester, and other centres from which ladies 

 and gentlemen can get their six days' hunting a 

 week. 



The conditions that have altered the whole tone 



9 



