70 FOX-HUNTING FROM SHIRE TO SHIRE 



breeding of a succession of champions and prize- 

 winner was due to the skill of Mr Gerald Hardy, 

 who held the mastership of the Atherstone from 

 1895 to 1903. In those days we stayed with the 

 master at Merevale, a fine old mansion he rented, 

 two miles distant from Atherstone, in a park full 

 of gigantic oak trees. The collection of foxes' 

 masks which adorned the long passage from the 



entrance hall, were a triumph of artistic skill, giving 

 as they did every conceivable expression charac- 

 teristic of bold Reynard whether in repose or chase. 

 Fine examples from the brush of Archibald Thorburn 

 and Thomas Blinks also adorned the walls, and 

 when Mr Hardy exchanged to the mastership of 

 the Meynell in 1903, the country presented him with 

 a further picture painted by the latter artist, of 

 himself hunting the dog hounds, riding a favourite 

 grey mare, with a view of Merevale in the back- 



