THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



* * * * Mr. John Corbet 



1791-1811. 



Then let Leicestershire vauut of its far renowned speed, 



Let them jostle and cross, for a start or a lead, 

 Upon selling their nags, more than hunting intent, 

 And scarce know the meaning of what is called scent ; 

 All declaiming at once, such a shout, such a yell, 

 Doing only what monkeys might do just as well ; 

 Where sport depends quite, upon knowing the cover, 

 And the very best run in an half hour is over ; 

 May such hunting as this never fall to my lot, 

 Let them race, if they like it, I envy them not ; 

 The blood of old Trojan is all I desire, 

 So give me the Hounds of the Warwickshire Squire. 



Such is the enthusiastic ending of a composition which 

 is decided]}' above the average of rhyming accounts of 

 hunting runs. The " Warwickshire Squire " is, of 

 course, Mr. Corbet, and the "Blood of old Trojans" 

 I hope by this time, does not need to be interpreted to 

 my readers. The sentiments expressed towards Leices- 

 tershire are the same as were seen in a couplet given in 

 my last chapter. The " Meltonians " were accused by Riding to sell, 

 their brethren in the less fashionable, but more hunting, 

 countries of entertaining the conception that riding to 

 hounds were only a form of steeplechasing. That the 

 only essential was speed — that the hounds only played 

 the part of paper or flags and marked the 

 course, and, finally, that the ultimate and much to 

 be desired end of the day's work was to ride at as great 

 a pace as possible, to be in at the death, and to sell the 

 horse ridden at as handsome a premium as pos- 

 sible. There is no doubt that this was the true 

 state of things as far as a large section of men in 

 Leicestershire were concerned, although of course 

 my readers well know — I hope, in many cases, from 

 experience — that the " Cream of Leicestershire " always 

 has been, and doubtless always will be, a much 

 desired site, for at all events a portion of the season, 

 apart from its fashionable and social aspects. 



But other countries were not entirely free from 

 sinning in this respect. Excessive hard riding, with 



