LEICESTERSHIRE 163 



gentleman, and a still heavier man, has gone quite as well ovei" a 

 country. 



Among the high weights in Leicestershire, Mr. Maxse is quite a 

 front-rank man, and is remarkably well mounted for that country, 

 his horses having a great deal of power, upon short legs, with a 

 good allowance of blood. Strange to say, he also has one horse 

 called Cognac, which has carried him nine seasons, and is still very 

 fresh and well. A finer animal in the shape of a horse was never 

 formed. 



Mr. Maxse's weight is sixteen stone ; but his seat on his saddle is 

 much in his favour. He sits well down on his fork, close behind 

 his horse's shoulders, and has a fine bridle hand. He has also an 

 excellent method of putting his horse at his fences, and as a proof 

 of its good effect, he himself informed me that he went through one 

 whole season, and up to Christmas in the next, without having a 

 fall. 



Sir Harry Goodricke's stud, consisting of fourteen, was just what 

 I expected to see in a hard-riding man's stable, who never misses a 

 day with hounds, who rides nearly fourteen stone, and stands six 

 feet high. Sir Harry is a sportsman. His father was one before 

 him ; and though but a tyro in those days, I remember being out 

 with a pack of fox-hounds of which he had, in part, the manage- 

 ment. His confederate was the well-known Colonel Wardle, a very 

 keen sportsman and a very hard rider. I do not speak from my own 

 knowledge of the fact, not having seen enough of him to form so 

 decided an opinion ; but I speak from what I heard from all quarters 

 at Melton, that Sir Harry Goodricke is not only as fine a horseman 

 over a country as can be put on a saddle, but that riding is only a 

 secondary accomplishment with him. He is allowed to be an 

 admirable judge of hunting, devotedly attached to the sport ; and 

 by his early promise, we may venture to pronounce that a sportsman 

 he w^ill continue to the end of his life. 



Mr. Holyoake is a decided advocate for thorough-bred horses, 

 declaring, from his own experience, that nothing short of full blood 

 can carry him at the pace he wishes to go over Leicestershire. Mr. 

 Holyoake doubtless finds no small difficulty in procuring thorough- 

 bred horses to carry his weight (fourteen stone), but he still per- 



