Bklvoir Hunt. 13 



patronised by the late and present Duke of 

 Rutland, Lord Forester, Lord Wilton, Mr. Val. 

 Maher, Mr. Sloane Stanley, Lord Rosslyn, 

 Col. Forester, Mr. Maxe, Sir James Musgrave, 

 Mr. Fletcher Norton, Air. Gilmour, Mr. Stirling 

 Crawfurd, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Gaskill, Sir Richard 

 Sutton, and the chief representatives of the 

 Belvoir and Melton Hunts. The Prizes were 

 valuable, and, if memory serves, amounted to 

 something like twenty-five pounds for the 

 premier four-year-old, fifteen for the best 

 three-year-old, and liberal recognition of those 

 in the next grade in each class, with stipula- 

 tions that the exhibits v/ere bred and owned 

 by tenant farmers. There were also sub- 

 stantial prizes for brood mares. As a 

 natural result the winners were frequently 

 disposed of to gentlemen of the hunts at 

 satisfactory prices, and, as these shows were 

 usually held during the winter, something 

 was generally found of good account in the 

 Farmers' Race at Croxton Park in the 

 following spring. The race v\^as then for 

 half-bred horses, run in heats, and created no 

 end of interest amongst the locals, who each 

 of course swore by, and had a bet on his 

 neighbour's horse. There was a cunning old 



