THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



like to having his hounds ridden over as he had to experienc- 

 ing that misfortune himself, and he was much more anxious 

 that the pack should get away from the hard riding field than 

 that they should let that field know where they were going. 

 At all events his hounds could go and stay, but it is to the 

 great squire's methods of hound-breeding we probably owe 

 that lightness of tongue which reappears at intervals in the 

 Belvoir, as in all other kennels which have the noted Os- 

 baldeston blood. The Duke and Shaw had the same kind of 

 hard riding field as the squire on the Leicestershire side 

 of the country, and they themselves were men who loved to 

 go fast. 



It was about this time that the Belvoir began to be noted 

 for that knack of getting away quickly on a scent for which 

 they have since been distinguished, and Nimrod tells a story 

 of a run which lasted twenty-two minutes, and in which all 

 the field were beaten off by the pace, except a Mr. Storey 

 on a blood horse. Nimrod loves this little story and tells it 

 several times. It is indeed a good test of the pace of the 

 hounds, since they beat horses across a country in which there 

 were no fences large enough to give them an advantage over 

 their followers. 



In 1816 Shaw retired, and went to live in Warwickshire, 

 where he kept two horses and hunted with Lord Middleton, 

 with whom he was a great favourite and who was always 

 willing to mount him. Ill-health was probably the cause of 

 Shaw's retirement, for Nimrod says : " I may be allowed 

 to say where I last saw him. It was at Stratford-on-Avon in 

 Lord Middleton's time, where he had a comfortable house 

 and two good hunters, as also the use of Lord Middleton's 

 stud whenever he had occasion for them ; but he was only 

 the wreck of the man I had seen in Leicestershire, having 

 met with the too common fate of mankind — a very severe 

 illness." ^ 



But a man had been trained up in his school to succeed 

 him, and Thomas Goosey became huntsman of the Belvoir 

 in 1 8 16. Another whipper-in of note who had served his 

 ^ Hu7iiing Re7mniscences, p. 314. 

 98 



