THE HOUSE OF MANNERS AND THE CHASE 



the most complete among animals which, like packs of wild 

 dogs, are of the same blood and members of the same family. 



The physical resemblance of the Belvoir pack is thus indi- 

 cative of the power and willingness of the hounds to work 

 together in a body. This trait was noted by Nimrod, who, 

 on the occasion of his meeting the fifth Duke of Rutland's 

 hounds, on March 26th, 1825, says : ^ " I was more particularly 

 struck with the fine length of their frames, and the strongly 

 marked and uniform character of the pack." In the quality 

 of common trust and helpfulness the Belvoir pack is pre- 

 eminent, and to this may be partly attributed the remarkable 

 quickness with which they get away from covert. 



The likeness has been greatly increased by the continuity 

 of the pack. With some short intervals, during which the 

 management was entrusted to friends of the Manners family 

 during the absence or the minority of one or other of the 

 Dukes of Rutland, the pack was under the control oi 

 members of the same family for one hundred and eighty 

 years at least. For, while the hounds have been steadily 

 improved by drafts and crosses, they have never been dis- 

 persed like those of the neighbouring hunts — the Quorn, the 

 Cottesmore, and the Pytchley. Thus the Belvoir pack has 

 had everything in its favour, being fortunate alike in its 

 owners, in the remarkable line of hunt servants who have 

 helped so materially in its development, and in the country 

 over which it has hunted. 



It was a fortunate day for fox-hunting when the Manners 

 family left the historic beauties of Haddon House for the 

 more modern magnificence of Belvoir. For a family, indeed, 

 to whom the chase is a favourite recreation, Belvoir has an 

 unrivalled situation. From the towers and terraces of the 

 Castle, woods and plains, tillage and pasture, in short almost 

 every variety of hunting country, may be viewed. For the 

 land of the Dukes of Rutland shows fox-hunting in all its 

 phases. The follower of the Belvoir hounds may one day 

 hear the immemorial woodlands ring with the note of the 

 horn and the melody of the hounds, and on the next may 

 ' Hunting Tours ^ p. 228. 



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