THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



ings of others that springs from the absence of selfishness. 

 The Duchess, indeed, was in every sense a fine lady ; her 

 manners were refined and full of dignity, but nothing in the 

 world would have induced her to appear bored when another 

 was addressing or attempting to amuse her. She was not 

 one of those vulgar fine ladies who meet you one day with a 

 vacant stare, as if unconscious of your existence, and address 

 you on another in a tone of impertinent familiarity. Her 

 temper, perhaps, was somewhat quick, which made this con- 

 sideration for the feelings of others still more admirable, for 

 it was the result of a strict moral discipline acting on a good 

 heart. Although the best of wives and mothers, she had some 

 charity for her neighbours. Needing herself no indulgence, 

 she could be indulgent, and would by no means favour 

 that strait-laced morality that would constrain the innocent 

 play of the social body. She was accomplished, well read, 

 and had a lively fancy. Add to this that sunbeam of a 

 happy home, a gay and cheerful spirit in its mistress, and one 

 might form some faint idea of this gracious personage." ^ 



When the family arrived at Belvoir for the winter, the hunt 

 formed a natural centre around which other recreations and 

 occupations revolved. It is unfortunate for us that Nimrod 

 never penetrated into the Belvoir circle, and consequently 

 says but little about the Duke's hunt. In the early part of 

 the century the central figure of Belvoir society was George 

 Brummell, then at the height of his fame and fashion, sur- 

 rounded by all the glamour of the friendship of the Prince of 

 Wales and the adoration of the most fashionable men and 

 women of the day. If we look upon Brummell from the 

 point of view of his contemporaries, we shall see that he 

 presented a not unattractive figure. Young, tall, slight, an 

 ofificer of the most fashionable corps, he was the leader of the 

 most exclusive set of his time. His manners were good and 

 his conversation was charming, or even the Prince's nomina- 

 tion might not have saved him from the fate of a rival ple- 

 beian protege of royalty, who also obtained a commission in 

 the lOth Hussars, and whose father being a tobacconist and 



^ Coningsby, by the Earl of Beaconsfield, p. 82. 

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