294 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1899 



personalities and ill-feeling. He was a remarkably good shot, and the way he 

 used to work his coverts made the hearts of true sportsmen to rejoice. 



As A Benefactob. 



The demise of Colonel Levett not only deprives the county of Stafford of one 

 of its most conspicuous and respected personalities, but it takes from the 

 picturesque village of Wichnor and the surrounding district a truly benevolent 

 man — one who, no less than his devoted helpmeet, was ever mindful of the 

 necessities of the poor and needy. Lady Jane Levett has been untiring in her 

 exertions in the interest of her poorer neighbours, and her work in coimection 

 with the Burton Board of Guardians, as president of the Ladies' Committee, con- 

 stitutes one of the brightest episodes in the history of our local jwor-law adminis- 

 tration. It was at her invitation that the aged and the sick who were inmates 

 of the workhouse annually spent an afternoon at Wichnor, and in their wandering 

 about the hall and the gi'ounds, which were unrestrictingly thrown oyien to the 

 indigent guests, they received the cordial co-operation of Colonel and Lady Jane 

 Levett, who laid themselves out on that occasion solely to promote the enjoy- 

 ment of the company, who can never forget the lavish entertainment of which 

 they were recipients. 



The Levetts and Wichnor Church. 



The Levetts have long been associated with Wichnor, and all the dead 

 Colonel's predecessors lie buried in the churchyard. The late Colonel was 

 devotedly attached to the Church of England, and it is a noteworthy fact that 

 until a few weeks ago, just prior to his departure to the south of France in search 

 of health, he regularly and without interruption, while he was at Wichnor, read 

 the lessons in the village church for twenty-two years. When, in 1874, the 

 nave and aisle were newly seated with open benches. Colonel Levett placed in 

 the edifice a stained window to the memory of his mother, while his wife. Lady 

 Jane, in 1875, presented a new organ to the parish. The living was in the gift 

 of the deceased as lord of the manor and chief landowner. 



The funeral will take place at Wichnor on Friday afternoon. 



WITH THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. 



Monday, March 6th, 1899, Osmaston. A hard frost on the two preceding 

 nights left the gi-oimd in very bad order for hunting ; in fact, a good many people 

 thought that hounds would go home. However, a long and ineffectual jog to 

 draw the Bradley coverts gave the ground time to thaw, and, consequently, the 

 going was not at all bad when a fox was found in Shirley Park. One was 

 halloaed at the top side towards Eodsley, but was promptly headed and turned 

 back. This halloa, and two or three couples of hounds on the line, led about half 

 the field astray, for the huntsman, with the body of the pack, had almost 

 simultaneously gone away with a fox at exactly the opposite side towards 

 Bradley. They turned left-handed, and ran by Ednaston to Brailsford Gorse, 

 whence the fox was viewed making his way back to Ednaston Gorse, where, 

 however, hounds could barely own the scent. A halloa forward towards Shirley 

 Park took them in that direction, and a very mangy fox was viewed several 

 times in the wood, but scent was so bad that it was impossible to hunt him, and 

 he had to be given up. They found again, in the Finney Bank, and ran by fits 

 and starts to Rodsley, where there were two foxes on foot, one being viewed 

 towards Shirley Park, and the other back towards the Finney Bank. After a 

 long check by Rodsley and a long cast back, hounds hit off the line of their fox. 



