HUNTING TOURS. 225 



of hounds and country, for which there does 

 not appear to be any foundation beyond the 

 fertility of brain which gave them circulation; 

 but as so much interest appertains to the 

 customs of by-gone days in this aristocratic 

 county, I have taken considerable pains to 

 ascertain facts, in which I have been most 

 kindly and ably assisted by my late friend, 

 Mr. Cradock, in whose possession there were 

 documents and details, the authenticity of 

 which cannot be gainsaid. A letter, dated 

 Quorn, March 19th, 1800, from Mr. Meynell 

 to the late Duke of Rutland, is thus worded : 

 " Lord Sefton will take my hounds at the 

 end of the season, and I know he hopes to 

 succeed me in hunting the country ; " and 

 in another part the time of Mr. Meynell's 

 commencement is determined by the obser- 

 vation, " When the country was made over 

 to me forty- seven years ago." 



A most amusino; and instructive little book 

 called the " Meynellian Science ; or, Fox- 

 hunting upon System," graphically written by 

 the late John Hawkes, Esq., a very celebra- 

 ted sportsman and companion of Mr. Mey- 

 nell's, affords a vast fund of information 

 concerning the customs of those days, and 



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