LEICESTERSHIRE 167 



managed by the very kind and gratuitous exertions of that good old 

 sportsman, Mr. Cradock, of Sanford near Loughborough, who, 

 accompanied by Dick Burton, goes around the country as soon as 

 hunting is at an end, pays the rents of the coverts, and inquires into 

 the state of the foxes, htters of cubs, &c. Having had the pleasure 

 of meeting Mr. Cradock one evening at the Old Club, he was kind 

 enough to inform me in what manner the artificial coverts are made. 



" A piece of dry land," said he, " lying well to the sun, and from 

 two to three acres in extent, should be fixed upon. Here some very 

 strong black-thorns are stuck into the ground, and plashed and laid 

 down within about two feet of the surface. In a very short time, if 

 the land is strong, the thorns will be almost hidden by grass and 

 weeds, and the foxes will make their runs and kennels under them. 

 In a covert of this description," added he, " which I made on my 

 own land, the. thorns were hidden in little more than two months." 

 These coverts, it must be obvious, are difficult for hounds to draw, 

 and in other respects very inferior to those which are natural. 



As a small token of regard for the services Mr. Cradock has 

 rendered to the Quorn country, the members of the Old Club, joined 

 by one or two of their friends, presented him with an elegant snuff 

 box of one hundred guineas value, and the Earl of Plymouth sent 

 him a most beautiful and massive silver cup. It is somewhat 

 singular that very few of the Leicestershire resident gentlemen ever 

 go out with hounds ; so that it may be truly said that almost all the 

 money expended in the county on matters of this description is 

 imported from foreign parts. 



There is a very celebrated character in the limits of the Quorn 

 hunt, a most respectable yeoman and farmer, by the name of 

 Oldacre, residing between Leicester and Melton, and to whom also 

 a cup has been presented for his services in the country, and most 

 particularly so for his skill in the formation of gorse coverts— in 

 which it is said he has no equal. The famous John Ball covert was 

 made by him, as was also Walton Holt ; and by the skill he 

 exercises in cleaning and preparing the ground, and drilling the 

 seed, his coverts always hold foxes the second year. 



The most favourite coverts in the Quorn Hunt are Shankton Holt, 

 Billesdon Coplow, Seggs-hills, Cream and Glen Gorses, Barkby and 



