THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



" Copy of agreement between Mr. Noel and Mr. Meynell 

 about the boundaries of their hunts: — 



" ' Owston, Laund, Skeffington, Loddington, Tugby, Allex- 

 ton, and Stockaston Woods, Easton Park, and the woods 

 near Holt to be neutral coverts. The coverts on the 

 Langton side of those above named to be drawn by Lord 

 Gainsborough. Ashby Pasture not to be drawn by Lord 

 Gainsborough. Billesdon Coplow to be neutral. No coverts 

 on the Quorn side of Billesdon Coplow to be drawn by Lord 

 Gainsborough. All earths in both hunts to be stopped in 

 common. 



" ' On these conditions Mr. Meynell will engage to draw no 

 coverts except those above mentioned, which he understands 

 to be claimed by Lord Gainsborough as belonging to Mr. 

 Noel's hunt' 



" Mr. Meynell hopes he shall be permitted to run his young 

 hounds in Beaumont chase, for the purpose of breaking them 

 from deer, which he has no means of doing elsewhere, and, 

 provided he is indulged in that liberty, he will submit to any 

 restrictions with respect to drawing the chase Lord Gains- 

 borough shall think proper to prescribe. 



" Should these proposals be acquiesced in, the only covert 

 of any consequence hitherto drawn by Lord Gainsborough 

 which he would agree not to draw is Ashby Pasture. 



" Among the coverts which Mr. Meynell has for some time 

 been in the habit of drawing, and which by the agreement 

 he would be debarred from drawing, are Prior's, Brown's, 

 and Tampion's Coppices, Lady Wood, Orton Park Wood, 

 and Burton Gorse." ^ 



The letters of Maittaire I have quoted are the only ones 

 which bear on the subject of hunting, but there are some of 

 a series of later epistles which deal with the history of the 

 house of Manners, and illustrate the courtier-like side of 

 Maittaire's character. 



It was after this that Maittaire became tutor to Philip 

 Stanhope, and he died in harness, his pen dropping from his 

 hand in the middle of one of his carefully framed letters. 

 ^ Memoirs of the Belvoir Hounds^ pp. 8, lo, ii. 



34 



