72 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



Mr. Musters would not allow him the use of the old 

 kennels, so he was obliged to build new kennels at 

 Thurgaton, while there were other causes which gave 

 rise to friction. Osbaldeston soon abandoned the 

 country and went to the Atherstone, to which the 

 Derbyshire country had just been united, and com- 

 menced his reign by drafting the best part of Lord 

 Vernon's pack into his own. Here he remained till 

 Mr. Assheton-Smith resigned the Mastership of the 

 Quorn in 1817, by which time, to quote the words of 

 " Nimrod," he had raised himself to the very pinnacle 

 of fame as a breeder of hounds. Practically he reigned 

 over the Quorn till 1828, when he was succeeded by 

 Lord Southampton, though for fourteen months he was 

 out of the saddle, owing to a compound fracture of the 

 leg, sustained through Sir James Musgrave jumping on 

 the top of him. Those who witnessed the accident, 

 amongst whom was " Nimrod," thought that he would 

 never ride again, and it was only the untiring nature of 

 his constitution which enabled him to do so. As it 

 was, he was always afterwards nervous at being crowded 

 at his fences. For one season after he resigned the 

 Quorn to Lord Southampton he was out of office. 

 Then the Pytchley became vacant, and the Squire, as 

 he was now universally called, took up his quarters at 

 Pitsford, then the residence of Mr. Payne. He also 

 hunted the Thurlow country, in Suffolk, travelling 

 overnight from one country to the other. The in- 

 firmities of age and a diminished income finally 

 obliged him to relinquish the horn. His hounds were 

 sold at Tattersall's, when six couples fetched 1360 



