152 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



he did the thing throughout in a thorough 

 sportsmanhke style, as fox-hunting ought to be 

 done ; from the moment he got upon his hunter 

 until he killed or lost his fox he was intent and 

 earnest in that pursuit, and the result of his 

 sportsmanlike conduct was that no man kept 

 his field in such good order. 



'' When Sir Bellingham Graham quitted the 

 Atherstone country he left behind him a great 

 regard for his good name and universal regret at 

 his departure/' 



In the year 1820, fascinated by the idea 

 of Northamptonshire, he left the Atherstone 

 for the Pytchley, where he succeeded Lord 

 Althorp and Sir Charles Knightley, but there 

 he only remained for one season. Troubles of 

 some kind seem to have arisen which rendered 

 him unpopular in that country. The ''Druid'' 

 records that '' the foxes were destroyed, even the 

 mail-coaches were hung with their dead carcases 

 as a sort of defiance. Still, he fought on, and 

 determined to have a grand field day. He turned 

 down seven brace one night, but not a hound 

 could speak to it in the morning, and he drew 

 every covert blank again." The result was that 

 at the end of the season he left the Pytchley 

 to take over a very different style of country, 

 namely, the Hambledon Hunt in Hampshire. 



