62 



THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Mr. Shirley as master— three samples of his 



SPORT— SOME OF HIS FOLLOWERS — Mr. Hay's 

 short mastership — A RUN FROM BoWSHOT — 



SOME MORE Warwickshire men — Mr. Newton 



FeLLOWES — MORE SPORT WORTH RECORDING. 



Mr. Shirley. ^f^^^ Lord Middleton resigned " the Warwickshire " 



in 1821, as described in my last chapter, there came a 

 succession of short masterships and a somewhat varied 

 display of sport. Lord Middleton having given his 

 hounds to his friend, Sir Tatton Sy kes, the cou n try, which 

 had been hunted without subscription, found itself not 

 only called upon to provide the wherewithal for sport 

 but also to find the hounds. The difficulty was over- 

 come by Mr. Shirley, of Eatington Hall, undertaking 

 the management until some other leader could be 

 ' found. He purchased the Cranbourne Chase Hounds, 

 consisting of 24 couples. They were as pretty and 

 steady a pack as ever left a kennel, although some- 

 what small. A new kennel was built at Butler's 

 Marston and a subscription of £2,000 was raised. 



Jack Wood. The celebrated Jack Wood, who had been huntsman 



to Lord Althorpe and Sir Charles Knightley in North- 

 amptonshire, and to the Duke of Beaufort, now eutered 

 the service of "the Warwickshire " in the same capacity. 

 "Nimrod" says that there was no finer horseman than 

 Jack Wood. He had a graceful seat and light hand, and 

 rode like a gentleman. He was, however, somewhat 

 unlucky and included a broken leg, thigh, and collar- 



