THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



" An uncle of mine, who was a very abstemious man him- 

 self, assured me that when dining at a gentleman's house not 

 far from Melton, near which place he was himself living for 

 hunting, after he had had a skinful himself — in fact, he said, 

 * I had had quite as much as I could carry safely ' — he saw 

 Lord Alvanley and old Frank Forester drink four bottles of 

 claret each ; he further added, ' When I had done they had 

 quite as much, if not more, than I had, and where the devil 

 they put it and why they were not quite drunk I never could 

 make out' " ^ 



In this, at least, we have improved, and the custom of a 

 few glasses of champagne, a cigar or two, a quiet rubber, and 

 then early to bed may be the reason why we do not to-day 

 find it impossible to ride hard over Leicestershire after early 

 middle life has passed. 



^ Sport and Anecdote, p. 39. 



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