PETERBOROUGH AND THE FITZWILLIAM HUNT 15 



used to go to my father's room to have a talk with 

 him before going to bed, whilst the whippers-in, 

 following the custom of the times, made a night of 

 it, singing and dancing. The great Tom Sebright 

 was the gentleman of his profession, his character 

 inspiring the pen of " The Druid " with perhaps his 

 prettiest bit of wondrous word-painting.^ " Starting 

 life at Quorn under ' Squire' Osbaldeston, from whose 

 tuition he learnt the first precepts of that science 



(^M,& 





From a picture by the late Cuthberi Bede, March 22, 1854] 



The Woolpack Inn, Connington Lane, Hunts. 



which he afterwards brought to a perfection seldom 

 attained, — in common wdth Goosey, Will Goodall, 

 and some few others, whose names are landmarks in 

 hunting history, — Sebright is said to have combined 

 confidence in his own hounds with the power of 

 giving them confidence in him and his decision. 

 For instance, he would sit on his horse and let 

 hounds cast themselves over a field, without render- 

 ing assistance until he saw them, according to his 

 judgment, palpably at fault or in need of help. 

 Then he would make a cast, which, as he had the 

 previous experience of his hounds to guide him, 



' La>id (Did Water, March 1874. 



