THE BUILDERS OF BEL VOIR 



severe runs which fell to them about this time. Then as 

 now the Belvoir hounds, though distinguished for their 

 beauty, were kept for use and not for show. The strength 

 and symmetry of the pack were the result of the constant 

 endeavour of a succession of able men and enthusiastic 

 sportsmen to fit them for the work they had to do. This 

 work must always have been severe, though it was in some 

 degree reduced by the existence of kennels at Wilsford, from 

 whence the Lincolnshire side of the country could be more 

 easily reached ; but the arrangement had the disadvantage of 

 obliging hounds to hunt on one side of the hunt territory 

 only, while the other side of the country remained with- 

 out them, or there were long distances to travel to find 

 sport. Now to hunt a country fairly is one of the first prin- 

 ciples of a wise mastership, and in order to do this each 

 week should have its days divided between the different 

 districts. No doubt in the earlier days of hunting the 

 master was not so bound by the force of public opinion as 

 at present, and the balance of power in this, as in most 

 matters connected with the hunt, was in his favour, especially 

 if he was the owner of the hounds. 



The period on which we have now entered in the annals 

 of the Belvoir Hunt is that which immediately preceded 

 what may be called the golden age of the hunt. Land- 

 owners and farmers had more money and fewer objects on 

 which to spend it than in the present day, for the Corn 

 Laws were still unrepealed. Above all, we do not find any 

 trace of that jealous dislike of amusements in which they do 

 not share which has since marked those who have succeeded, 

 if not to the tenets and the virtues, yet still to the tone of 

 mind of the Puritans of Macaulay's epigram, and who hate 

 sport because it gives pleasure to those who take part in it. 

 It would perhaps be truer to say that the frame of mind 

 which the great Whig historian described so neatly, belongs 

 not so much to those on whom the mantle of Puritanism has 

 fallen, or to the holder of any particular set of opinions, but 

 that it is the spirit which at all times has marked the meaner 

 class of minds among mankind. 



lOI 



