THE PROVINCES. 247 



need have no difficulty in finding all he wants ; good hounds 

 and good country, good sport and good company, hunting and 

 riding, without taking a journey to Corinth. Especially will 

 he find them in those packs we have already alluded to as 

 bordering on the Shires ; of some of which it may be fairly 

 said that if not the rose, at least they have been so long in its 

 company that only a very nice critic could mark the difference. 

 Conspicuous among these is the ATHERSTONE, which hunts 

 about equal parts of Leicestershire and Warwickshire, and a 

 small corner of Staffordshire. The history of these hounds springs 

 from some time in the latter half of last century. The first recorded 

 date is the year 1793 when Lord Talbot, of Ingestre Hall, sold 

 his hounds to Mr. Lambton. The first Lord Donegal had pre- 

 ceded Lord Talbot, and Lord Vernon succeeded him. In the 

 latter's day the boundaries of the hunt were considerably 

 enlarged, and orange took the place of the orthodox scarlet 

 as the uniform of the hunt. But for some time after there 

 appear to have been four divisions of the country, sometimes 

 united under one master, sometimes hunted separately on a 

 system of mutual accommodation. 1 It was in Mr. Osbaldes- 

 ton's time that the pack received its present name, and the 

 kennels moved to Witherley where they still stand. Sir Bel- 

 lingham Graham, Mr. Anstruther Thomson, and Mr. Selby- 

 Lowndes have been also among the masters. The present 

 master, Mr. Oakley, came into office in 1871. The country 

 as at present established is bounded on the south by the North 

 Warwickshire, on the west by the South Staffordshire, by the 

 Quorn and the Meynell on the north, and on the east by the 

 Quorn, Sir Bache Cunard's and the Pytchley. The pick of the 

 country lies of course on the eastern side, which is well com- 

 manded by the universal Rugby, and farther north below 

 Leicester is also some pretty galloping ground. When the 

 meet is at Brownsoever, Coton House, Bitteswell, or Newnham 

 Paddox, the ' fields ' are of true Leicester dimensions, the 

 Quornites and the Pytchley men mustering in great force. The 



1 Records of the Chase, ch. vii. 



