FAMOUS MASTERS 43 



bridle. His last days were spent with Mr. Corbet's 

 harriers at Sundorne, where he was killed by a fall 

 from his horse, a fitting end for a celebrated and hard- 

 riding huntsman. 



In Mr. Corbet's day Leamington was a mere village. 

 A range of baths erected by a Mr. Matthew Wise alone 

 constituted its pretensions to be called a Spa, and the 

 accommodation provided for visitors, hunting and 

 otherwise, was of the most rural and uncomfortable 

 description. Stratford-on-Avon was therefore chosen 

 as the social centre of the Hunt, and the Hunt Club 

 had its headquarters at the "White Lion" in that town. 



Let me quote " Castor's " description of the famous 

 club : " The evening uniform of the club was black 

 stockings, breeches, and waistcoat, and a scarlet coat 

 with handsome gilt buttons, with the letters ' S. H.' 

 upon them, and a black velvet collar. This last appen- 

 dage gained the members of the club the name of 

 ' Black Collars,' and as such they were referred to m 

 the poem of ' The Epwell Hunt.' It corresponded, in 

 fact, with the white collar badge of the Pytchley Hunt, 

 and seems to have been also a part of the dress in the 

 field, as it figures in a coloured plate of John Corbet 

 and his hounds by Thomas Weaver. The commence- 

 ment of the season was always ushered in in a marked 

 manner. The members of the club congregated once 

 more at Stratford, and on the first Monday in 

 November Lord Willoughby de Broke entertained the 

 Master and a numerous party to dinner." 



So many runs were recorded with Mr. Corbet's 

 hounds, some of them in verse, that I can only allude 



