THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



Bustler; 1779, Mr. Musters' Mentor, Lord FitzwilHam's 

 Zephyr." ^ 



The hounds of which, I think, there is no doubt Lord 

 Granby was master in the field about 1766, were of a smaller 

 size than afterwards became the fashion, when Mr. Warde 

 and Mr. Assheton Smith both favoured big hounds. They 

 hunted over the Vale and in the Belvoir woods, not going 

 farther than Ingoldsby on the Lincolnshire side, and perhaps 

 not often so far as this. They were by this known as a 

 fast pack, there were fewer fences to stop them, and the 

 Vale for the most part carried a good scent then, as indeed 

 it does still. It is not difficult to imagine the delight the 

 hounds were to Granby, during the gloomy years which 

 came at the close, and perhaps even shortened his life. 

 Once the idol of the people, he was now the target for the 

 sarcasm of a Junius, to which a certain weakness and in- 

 dolence of mind exposed him. A man of honour and 

 integrity, he was the political associate of those who were 

 neither, and he was betrayed into actions of which he dis- 

 approved and which he afterwards regretted. 



But, so far as I can gather, he was always on the side 

 of justice and liberty in those early years of George III., 

 which are among the least creditable of our political history. 

 He opposed the dismissal of officers from the army for 

 political reasons, and divided the Cabinet itself on the 

 question of the tax on tea in the dispute with the American 

 colonies, a tax which Camden and Conway also desired 

 should be repealed. Their action caused the eventual dis- 

 ruption of the Duke of Grafton's Ministry, and Lord Camden 

 in the House of Lords, and Lord Granby in the Commons, 

 spoke and voted against the Government. The latter after- 

 wards voted against Wilkes, and, in his own simple and 

 manly way, regretted the course he had taken, and shortly 

 afterwards resigned all his appointments. 



Only a few years before, Granby had entered political life 

 with abundant renown and popularity ; he left it disap- 

 pointed, worn out with campaigning and hard living, and 



* Memoirs of Belvoir Hounds, p. 7. 

 54 



