THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



But such reflections belong rather to an age which specu- 

 lates even on its sports. In those less complicated times men 

 thought only of enjoying the sport of the moment, without 

 troubling themselves with social problems of any kind, and 

 we may now turn back to the simple tale of the hunting field 

 as it was in Goosey's second season, 1 8 16-17. This was a 

 time of bitter winds and poor scent, and consequently of 

 short-running foxes. A good scent makes good foxes, and a 

 fox, like every other wild animal, is unwilling to leave his 

 favourite haunts unless he is forced by stern necessity, in the 

 shape of a swift and clamorous pack, to do so. 



The season of 1817-18 was just the reverse of the previous 

 one, and is said in the records to have been the best ever 

 known in the Belvoir country up to that date. In January 

 hounds scarcely ever went out without a run, and " for weeks" 

 they " accounted for their foxes." It was on the 19th of that 

 month that Goosey had the first of his great runs. In Rops- 

 ley Rice he cheered his hounds, and a moment or two later 

 the shout of a whipper-in on the Barrowby side answered to 

 the holloa of the hounds in covert. Goosey was always quick 

 out of covert, and a quick huntsman makes quick hounds. 

 Once on the scent, they ran as if tied to their fox, over a line 

 part of which would be impossible now — nearly to Barrowby, 

 then a turn to the left and by Spittlegate Mill into what was 

 then but the outlying district round Grantham, but where 

 now houses have spread on all sides and the railway divides 

 the ground, for in those more fortunate days there was no 

 iron road to mar the face of the country or hinder hounds. 

 The pace was severe, for hounds were running up-wind. The 

 fox must turn or die, so he bore off sharp to the right and 

 only three of the field were with hounds as he did so. 

 Goosey was closely watching the doings of his pack, his fine 

 clear-cut features alight with joy, for was not his own reputa- 

 tion and that of his hounds a-making ? Nearest to him came 

 the Duke, tall, slight and active, and congratulating himself 

 that he had the best pack in England ; and not far off was 

 Mr. Vere Fane. 



How hounds turn on the line, the steady ones in the centre 



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