CHAPTER XII 



THE COTTESMORE, LORD LONSDALE, AND THE BEAUTIES OF 

 BARLEYTHORPE 



The sporting trophies in Barleythorpe Hall — Two noted sales of Lord 

 Lonsdale's Quorn and Cottesmore hunt horses — Portraits of the 

 hunters Radient, Marble, and Mullagh — The foxhunting centrepiece 

 on the dinner table at Barleythorpe Hall — Lord Lonsdale's deiinition 

 of a true-made foxhound, points on breeding and colour — A memory 

 of Tom Firr and Quorn Alfred (1872) — Mr Henry Chaplin's noted strain 

 of foxhound blood derived from Lord Henry Bentinck's sort — I\Ir 

 Austin Mackenzie's success with the old Blankney blood — Purchase 

 by Lord Lonsdale of Mr W. M. Wroughton's Woodland Pytchley 

 bitches, and the South Cheshire from Mr Reginald Corbett — Sir 

 WilHam Lowther breeding hounds in 1788, and their pedigree records 

 to-day — The three Barleythorpe entries of 1908, 1909 and 19 10, and 

 the success of Hertfordshire Sampler — The test of condition by 

 weight — The lottery of breeding and Lord Lonsdale's Villager (1884) — 

 What Frank Gillard said about Villager — The three noted judges of 

 the Cottesmore and Barleythorpe entries, 1909 — Lord Lonsdale's 

 Sargeant (1909) — Some winning lady-hounds — A distinguished gather- 

 ing of masters and huntsmen at Barleythorpe — Lord Lonsdale pro- 

 poses the Royal toast — Speeches by the Right Hon. Henry Chaplin, 

 M.P. and Lord Willoughby de Broke — A farmer's summary of a fox- 

 hound's appetite — The seventy chestnut hunt horses — The entry of 

 hounds, 1910, and I^ord Lonsdale's Vulcan — Other noted hounds in the 

 kennel. 



" Now full murk lie the meads upon Barleythorpe plain, 

 And the storm-god is drenching fair Catmos with rain, 

 The mavis and merle they sit silent in bower, 

 And the choirs of the woodlands all tunelessly cower. 

 But at ten o' the morn, comes Neal with his horn. 

 Works a wondrous change in the scene forlorn. 

 The cry, ' Oh the Hunt's up,' right cheerily sounds. 

 And all Cottesmore's astir with the Barleythorpe hounds." 

 — Tom Markland, in Fores Magazine, 1886. 



A VISIT to Barleythorpe during the Earl of Lonsdale's 

 mastership to the Cottesmore Hunt, was a most 

 interesting prelude to an inspection of hounds in 

 kennel next morning. Barleythorpe Hall has been 



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