THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 97 



It must not be imagined, however, that the prospects Leamington. 

 of a sojourn at Leamiogton during the hunting months 

 was altogether disagreeable to the hunting man. Many 

 excellent sportsmen took up their abode there. I have ^ L^e^in^?n.°* 

 been led to make these remarks because the position of 

 Leamington at its rise, and its relations to the War- 

 wickshire hunt were somewhat peculiar. A new town 

 rises rapidly and becomes the seat of fashion right in the 

 centre of a hunt's country. Yet the hunt remains deaf 

 to the demands from it for more attention in the way 

 of handy fixtures ; the headquarters remain as before ; 

 districts surrounding the town are not hunted with 

 very much greater regularity than before ; and the 

 result is a division of the country and the establish- 

 ment of a second pack. This was the state of afifairs 

 as shown in my last chapter. In this one I have 

 attempted to ellucidate the situation by reminding my 

 readers that Leamington rose as a watering-place, not 

 as a hunting quarter The Warwickshire hunt in 

 remaining faithful to the sport-providing districts 

 and deaf to the demands from Leamington, was 

 faithful to the charge which is committed to every 

 hunt master or committee, — that of providing the 

 best sport with the greatest regularity to the sup- 

 porters who hunt for the sake of the chase. The 

 result, the introduction of a second pack and the 

 establishment of the North Warwickshire country, 

 was no doubt a desirable one all round. 



The aspect of hunting has since these early days 

 entirely changed. The social element now pervades 

 the whole, and " the North " pack having got the 

 formerly deserted districts into good working order 

 again, Leamington may now be looked upon as a 

 very desirable winter abode. 



To put before my readers a picture of Leamington as ^ jj^y Jq the 

 a hunting centre in its early days, when Copps' was field, 

 fresh in its glory, I might introduce an account of a 

 day in the field from Leamington given in an old and 



