118 NIMROD'S HtTNTING TOUR 



I have seen of the elder brother, I am of opinion that he would make 

 a first-rate performer with one or two years' experience in Leicester- 

 shire. The two Captains Greenwood come under the denomination 

 of elegant horsemen over a country, and I have good reasons for 

 thinking they would go well anywhere. Mr. Scott and Mr. Baring, 

 jun. promise well ; and Mr. Frederick Heysham has not been to 

 Oxford for nothing ; and if degrees were taken in a riding school, I 

 think he would be a first-class man. He is, at present, rather too 

 fond of hounds ; but this is a fault on the right side with a young 

 one, and will in time correct itself. I never saw him ride anywhere 

 but in Hampshire, therefore cannot say how he performs in deep 

 and strong countries ; but I think, when on his chesnut horse, he 

 is rather quicker in getting to his hounds than any one I have seen 

 in Hampshire, and has no objection to a new-painted gate at any 

 time of the day. Mr. George Butler stands high among the Hamp- 

 shire riders, having served a five years' apprenticeship at Melton. 

 The Hon. William Gage, Mr. George Delme, and Mr. Meares, ride 

 very well to hounds. 



There is one gentleman whom I must not pass over — not only as 

 an old member of the Hunt, and a brother-in-law to Mr. Villebois, 

 but as a most useful member of the commonwealth, in everything 

 relating to fox-hunting, and keeping things straight and well in a 

 country — and this is Major Barrett, late of the 11th Light Dragoons, 

 now residing in the neighbourhood of Alresford. The Major, like 

 many of the rest of us, is not so quick as he was ten years ago ; 

 but the turn-out of himself and his horse is " quite the thing." 

 Talking of a neat turn-out, however, I must not omit one member of 

 this Hunt who has so long been conspicuous in this difficult art — I 

 mean Mr. David Murray. When I first knew Mr. Murray he was 

 a member of Christchurch College, Oxford, and rode a horse, if 

 possible, neater than himself. I allude to the well-known Zigzag, 

 afterwards purchased by Lord Plymouth at a large price : he was a 

 complete pattern of a Leicestershire hunter for a certain weight. 



Among those who seldom miss a day's hunting wdth Mr. Villebois 

 are Mr. Smythers and Mr. Wilkinson. The former is a most 

 respectable yeomen and farmer, who resides at Bramdean, and who 

 is as good a sportsman and as good a judge of hunting as the county 



