Chapter IV 

 THE PATRON OF CRABBE 



1754— 1787 



WHEN the Marquis of Granby died, his eldest son, who 

 had been born in 1754, was sixteen years of age, and 

 his father, Duke John, had still nine years to live. The old 

 Duke no longer took an active part in hunting, but it is 

 the peculiarity of this sport that the passion to which it 

 gives birth remains even after the power of active participa- 

 tion in it has passed away. Fox-hunting pre-eminently 

 has an interest and a charm for six out of the seven ages of 

 man, and many who are as old or older than the Duke of 

 Rutland then was, have still watched with interest the work- 

 ing of hounds and followed with keen attention the upward 

 growth of their pack. Those who have hunted with the hounds 

 of the late Lord Macclesfield will remember how, amid the 

 many duties of an active and popular landlord and a good 

 neighbour, hunting remained to the last the favourite pastime 

 of one who was among the very best of country gentlemen of 

 our own day, and who hunted hounds himself long after most 

 men have retired from the field altogether. We have instances 

 too of sportsmen still living, who, like Mr. Robert Watson 

 and Mr. Lawrence, have never during a long lifetime faltered 

 in their devotion to fox-hunting. 



The blood which was most in favour in the Belvoir kennels 

 during the latter years of the third Duke's life was drawn 

 from the kennels of Mr. Musters and Lord Fitzwilliam. This 

 Mr. Musters was the father of the better known sportsman 

 who was the founder of the South Notts pack, and " Mr. 

 John," as he was called at one time, whipped in to his father's 

 hounds, and learned the work he afterwards brought to such 



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