THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



resident squire as a master, and only once has a native of 

 Leicestershire held the position. The gentry, too, of the 

 hunt country have not as a rule been much given to the 

 chase; but year after year, first at Loughborough, then at 

 Leicester, Harborough, and later at Melton, crowds of 

 strangers have come down for the winter months, bringing 

 money, gaiety and bustle, till Melton grew and expanded 

 into an important town, from the insignificant village which 

 it was till fox-hunting became the sport of princes. The rise 

 of Melton has been much influenced by the nearness of 

 Belvoir Castle. The connection of men like Cecil Forester 

 with the Manners family, and the friendship of Alvanley with 

 the fifth Duke, naturally made the short distance between 

 the Castle and Melton an attraction to them when at the 

 latter place ; and when the masters of the Belvoir, fired with 

 emulation of the success of Mr. Meynell, and in a less degree 

 of the Cottesmore, began to breed their hounds for strength 

 and speed, and the huntsman to improve on the quicker 

 system of hunting that had already been introduced, what 

 more could Melton want ? Two days a week the Quorn were 

 away in the unspeakable recesses of Charnwood, and for the 

 Melton man proper to hunt five or six days a week is a 

 necessity. " Let us hunt with the Duke," was the natural 

 solution of the difficulty, and hence the Belvoir field was 

 increased by a hard-riding contingent who lived to hunt. It 

 was Nimrod who first made the discovery that the Leicester- 

 shire hunts and the Leicestershire men were better to write 

 of than others, and he seems to have visited the country in 

 the two best months — when open — January and February. 

 When asked why he had not come earlier in the season, he 

 replied, " A man with five hunters and a hack makes a very 

 respectable appearance in the Provincials, but he has no 

 business in Leicestershire. He would be more than half his 

 time kicking his heels in the town where he was quartered, 

 whilst his friends were enjoying themselves in the field." 



After this a period of good sport set in. Each year the 

 hounds were improved, for Goosey was a great man for 

 quality, and he had the help and approval of the Duke in his 



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