156 NIMROD'S HUNTING TOUR 



his Leicestershire friends by the familiar appellation of " the 

 Squire." 



On the 28th met the Quorn at Thrussington, and found in 

 Cussingdon Gorse ; but the sun was so overpowering and the ground 

 so dry that we could do nothing, although we had a beautiful find. 



On the 29th, as is always the custom on the day before Croxton 

 Park races, the Quorn hounds met at Kettleby, where at least three 

 hundred horses were assembled, with a pretty sprinkling of Ladies. 

 The field, however, was not so large as on some former anniver- 

 saries, in consequence of the Duke's hounds meeting within easy 

 reach of Melton. We found in Wartnaby Gorse, and killed in 

 Melton Spinney, after forty-five minutes — called very good for the 

 time of year. Had it not been for one check the field would have 

 been very select indeed ; and — to say nothing of the pleasant time 

 spent at Melton, for which I am so much indebted to my friends — 

 the gallop over this fine country amply repaid me for the many 

 miles I had travelled for it. The hounds did their work to admira- 

 tion. 



The fox we killed this day was one that had given the Duke two 

 or three good runs, and I am sorry to say was a vixen. A fresh 

 pack of hounds and a fresh stud of horses again awaited our arrival 

 at Widmerpool Inn for this afternoon's diversion ; but owing to the 

 warmth of the day, and the pace we had gone, few felt disposed to 

 go to them, and I, among many, went home. As Mr. Osbaldeston, 

 however, was on his road thither with his hounds, the Duke's pack 

 crossed him with their third fox ; and, what is singular, they also 

 had a capital day's sport — even to the tiring of almost all the 

 horses. 



I might as well attempt a history of the Punic wars, as to describe 

 all the changes and revolutions which have taken place in Leicester- 

 shire since I first hunted in it ; but as far as regards the hounds, 

 Lord Foley took them from Lord Sefton (who succeeded Mr. 

 Meynell), and kept them two years. Mr. Smith became master of 

 them in the summer of 1810, and Mr. Osbaldeston took them from 

 him in September 1817, and kept them till the middle of the season 

 of 1821 ; when Sir Bellingham Graham entered upon the country, 

 and hunted it the remainder of that and the whole of the following 



