Chapter VI 



THE BUILDERS OF BELVOIR 



1799-1828 



IN 1799, just one hundred years ago, the father of the 

 present Duke of Rutland came of age, and it is said 

 he spent sixty thousand pounds on the consequent festivities. 

 Even before that time the fifth Duke had begun to take his 

 place among the great nobles of the land, and he had already 

 laid the foundation of his influence with that party in the 

 State whose aim it is to preserve all that is best in our 

 constitution and our social life. It is only with one part of 

 the many-sided life at Belvoir Castle that we are now con- 

 cerned. I have, in the last chapter, traced the growth and 

 development of the pack, and shown how the close connection 

 of the Duke with the Somerset family had probably laid the 

 foundation of the fame of the kennel. We may, too, note how 

 the struggle with France stimulated Englishmen of all classes 

 to take part in manly exercises, and thus favoured the rise of 

 fox-hunting. War prices had their share in the growth 

 of the sport, by increasing the resources of landlords and 

 enriching the farmers, especially in counties such as Leicester- 

 shire and Lincolnshire, where the reign of large landowners 

 and the easy relations of the tenants to the lords of the soil, 

 left to the farmers a considerable share in the profits of the 

 land. This prosperity enabled the farmers to take their part 

 in the sports of those above them in the social scale, and 

 drew all together by the tie of common pleasures as well as 

 united interests. The growth of fox-hunting added yet more 

 to the prosperity of the farming classes, for it brought money 

 to the land. Horses began to bring high prices, for larger 



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