THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



A tough hearty sapling from liberty's tree, 

 If ever plain Yorkshireman lived, it was he. 



"But at last honest Matt has bid sporting adieu. 

 Many good things he uttered — one good thing is true : 

 'That aw'd by no frowns, above meanness or pelf, 

 No bad thing could ever be said of himself.' 

 As honest Matt Horsley is gone to repose, 

 And he and the foxes no longer are foes, 

 Lay one brush on his grave — it will do his heart good : 

 For so vermin his nature, so true was his blood, 

 That but stand o'er his sod. Tally-ho ! be your strain, 

 Matt Horsley will wake and will holloa again." ^ 



In such houses as are described above, the territory of 

 the Dukes of Rutland abounded. All the Dukes had been 

 liberal landlords, kind neighbours, and staunch friends. Like 

 the country of the Pelhams of Brocklesby, or of the Dukes 

 of Beaufort at Badminton, the Belvoir Hunt had been kept 

 up primarily for the neighbours and tenants of the estate, and 

 there was thus a sense of esprit de corps among its members, 

 and of courtesy to strangers as the guests of the hunt, which 

 has not yet died out, and which makes these hunts so pleasant 

 a social meeting ground at the present day. 



Above the squires and farmers came the larger landowners. 

 There were, for example, the Welbys, of a family almost as 

 ancient as that of Manners, and of service to the country only 

 less distinguished. In every department of the State a Welby 

 has won laurels, and all in turn have been country gentle- 

 men of the best English type. Sportsmen they are by birth 

 and training, but a keen sense of duty to their country has 

 often drawn them from the hunting field to take their share 

 of county work. Of this the late Sir William Welby-Gregory 

 was a shining example. No one saw more clearly than he, 

 that if the country gentleman was to hold his own and keep 

 his influence, it must be by loyal service in local self-govern- 

 ment, and such he gave unstintingly. He held that if men 

 of influence, of education, and of position would not take 

 their proper share, then local self-government could only 

 mean the corruption of the few preying on the indolence of 

 the many. In the present day, as when Lord John Manners 

 ( ^ Sporting Anecdotes, p. 516. 



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