WITH THE BELVOIR 235 



of a hunt cannot be taken as conclusive testimony, 

 and we are reminded in a letter from Captain 

 S. King, who hunted many years from Melton, 

 that " A generation before the days of Squire 

 Osbaldeston — viz., about 1766 — Blue Cap and 

 Wanton ran clean away from a field, mostly riding 

 thoroughbreds, on Newmarket Heath : so hounds 







^ 



'C..'T •.' 



r< 



In^ R.SiNCj ^^neikA.tio~'^ Fr^Ta MtTL-ro'^ 



From Melton. 



could travel in those remote days ! " Then as to 

 a certain distance of country being jumped in a 

 specified time, the Grand National course, which 

 measures 4 miles 856 yards, was covered on a memor- 

 able occasion, March 26, 1909, in 9 mins. 53! sees. 

 Yet anybody may ride a Grand National horse 

 hunting, and some do so — with permission from the 

 master to catch hounds on a quick-scenting day, if 

 they can ! The story of the run in a grass country 

 on a quick-scenting day is generally about the 

 same : " There was no one within half a field of the 



