MR. BOYCOTT 181 



minutes after twelve, and lost their fox near Orton 

 Hills! at fifty minutes after three; they had very few 

 checks, and none of those of any duration. 



Thus was the country hunted till 1823, when Sir 

 Bellingham Graham entered into an engagement to 

 hunt it, and resided at Compton House, near Kinfare, 

 where kennels were provided ; he also used those at 

 Ivetsey Bank, as a temporary accommodation when 

 the appointments were on the Shiffnal side. The 

 magnificence of Sir Bellingham's establishment, the very 

 superior sport which he afforded, and his hunting 

 accomplishments, were acknowledged by all, and it 

 was a source of great regret when, the following season, 

 the baronet undertook to hunt the Shropshire country 

 in conjunction with this ; inasmuch as every alternate 

 month or six weeks each district was without hounds. 



The year after — that is in 1825 — Mr. Boycott of 

 Rudge entered upon the country, from which period it 

 may be said to have been regularly hunted and the 

 limits defined. This gentleman was unquestionably a 

 sportsman, and at one time a first-rate performer over 

 a country ; but he had arrived at a time of life when 

 the keenness for riding usually diminishes, and as he 

 hunted his own hounds the failing was obvious. The 

 pack with which he commenced operations was pur- 

 chased from Mr. Nunn and had been hunting in Essex ; 

 they were not level in size, nor was their condition by 

 any means good ; but Mr. Boycott certainly improved 

 them vastly. His first whipper-in was old Zac. 

 Goddard, a very celebrated man in Warwickshire when 

 in the service of Lord Middleton. Skinner whipped-in 

 under him, and subsequently took his place. Mr. 

 Boycott was frequently much annoyed, and often not 

 without cause, at the way in which his hounds were 

 over-ridden; and I certainly must declare I have at 

 times seen those proceedings carried to a greater excess 

 in this than in any other country I ever hunted in. The 

 fields were generally ver^'^ numerous, sometimes from 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred horsemen out ; 



