152 GOOD SPORT 



Laxton Park, the guest of Mr. and Mrs. James 

 Hornsby/ who had lately taken up their residence 

 there, coming from Stapleford Park, Leicestershire, 

 we learnt something of the nature of the country, 

 which is three-fourths pasture, with strong wood- 

 lands. Our host and hostess were well known as 

 staunch fox preservers for the Leicestershire hunts, 

 and at Laxton Park, their new home, soon established 

 the fame of the coverts to supply sport for four 

 packs of hounds, who all meet there during the 

 course of the season, viz., the Woodland Pytchley, 

 the Cottesmore, Mr. George Fitzwilliam's, and the 

 Marquis of Exeter's. From Laxton Park we drove 

 eight miles to meet Lord Lonsdale's hunt at Oakley 

 Hay, whither our mount Hames, a good black horse, 

 had preceded us, with Pygmalion, one of Mrs. 

 Hornsby's favourites, to carry Mrs. Cuthbert 

 Bradley. 



The show at the meet was a brave one, two 

 hundred all told in the saddle, some forty vehicles, 

 and a large crowd of foot-people. Lord Lonsdale, 

 with his brother the Hon. Lancelot Lowther, field- 

 master, and a staff of nine in scarlet, arrived with 

 hounds by special train from Quorn. We counted 

 nine masters of hounds and four professional 

 huntsmen in the field, which included Mr. Austin 

 Mackenzie, by whose invitation Lord Lonsdale 

 brought the hounds ; Captain .Warner, ex-master of 

 the Quorn ; Mr. C. W. B. Fernie, master of the old 

 Billesdon Coplow country ; Mr. H. Wickham, ex- 

 master of the Fitzwilliam hounds ; Mr. W. R. 

 Erskine-Wemyss, ex-master of the Burton ; Sir 

 Bache Cunard, ex-master of the old Billesdon 

 Coplow country ; Lord Dalkeith, field-master to 

 his father's the Duke of Buccleuch. The hunts- 



^ Mr. James Hornsby's death occurred in March 1910. 



