74 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



Squire was ambitious to hunt his own hounds, which 

 he did six days a week, a feat which only one other 

 gentleman-huntsman, namely, Lord Darlington, has 

 ever achieved. He invariably rode to covert, and 

 when asked on one occasion whether he should drive 

 to Widmerpool, as the roads were good, replied, " Oh 

 no ; there is nothing like the pigskin." He was also 

 extremely fair towards his foxes, believing, with the 

 great Meynell, that murdering foxes is a most absurd 

 prodigality, for seasoned foxes are as necessary to sport 

 as experienced hounds. His zeal cannot be questioned. 

 On one occasion in 1825, having drawn three coverts 

 blank, a rare experience in Leicestershire, he observed 

 that there was a moon, and he would draw till the next 

 morning, but that he would find a fox. As it happened, 

 he found one at the next covert. Nor did he spare 

 any expense in providing his followers with sport, for 

 once, when hounds had met at Owelthorpe, in Notting- 

 hamshire, at 2 P.M., a clean pack of hounds with a 

 clean stud of horses were turned out from the inn at 

 Widmerpool. Even in those days the Leicestershire 

 fields of hunting-people had assumed abnormal pro- 

 portions and tried the patience of the Squire ; and it i 

 must be remembered that the Squire had once been 

 nearly killed by a man jumping on the top of him, so 

 he may be excused if he occasionally lost his temper 

 with the thrusting scoundrels who would not give him 

 room at his fences. 



To recount his feats of horsemanship alone would 

 fill a volume. Once, at the beginning of a good run, 

 his girths broke, so he threw the saddle away and rode 



I 



