90 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



admitted of that mode of travelling. He sent his valet, 

 who officiated for both of us, and one man with his 

 horses. My stud consisted of four hunters and a hack ; 

 with wliich I sent my groom, a helper, and boy to 

 take our horses to covert, and the servants assisted 

 each other in the duties of the stable. 



We set off on Thursday the third of February, and 

 after paying a visit to a friend on the road, reached 

 Melton about mid-day on Sunday, when we took up 

 our quarters at the well-known and well-conducted 

 hotel the George ; the horses and servants were 

 quartered at the Harborough Arms, twenty-six shillings 

 per horse being the charge for stabling and all neces- 

 sary provender. On our arrival we found the fixtures 

 rather unpropitious. The following day the Duke of 

 Rutland's, Lord Lonsdale's, and the Quom were too 

 far off to admit of our hunting with either without 

 sending our horses on, and we arrived too late for that, 

 consequently we had to amuse ourselves in the best 

 way we could, although there was not such a thing as a 

 public billiard table in the town. But on the Tuesday 

 the Quorn hounds met at Rollestone. 



Anticipating any event upon which great interest is 

 centred, it is a very common thing to form a sort of 

 picture in the mind of the tout ensemhle and the 

 details. It is a natural conclusion that I had done so 

 on this occasion, and as my experience in hunting had 

 been confined to the provincials, and my knowledge of 

 the noble science was but limited, it is an equally nat- 

 ural conclusion that my ideas turned upon superficial 

 objects. Although so many years have elapsed, I have 

 still the most lively recollections both of ideas and 

 realities. Of course, I had heard of Mr, Osbaldeston's 

 fame— of that of his hounds, his horses, and of the 

 country. I imagined that in the person of ' The 

 Squire,' I should see a man of the highest fashion ' got 

 up ' most elaborately and with some little affectation, 

 and that on any occasion of his hoimds being pressed 

 upon he would be outrageous. Of the hounds I had 



