THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



no unimportant part ; and in his time, at least, there was 

 an opening for innovations in dress. In this latter respect 

 Brummell was always perfect in taste. Of course he wore 

 the white cravat, which he possessed the art of folding to 

 perfection — an operation which, it is said, the Prince of Wales 

 would spend hours in watching with admiration and respect. 

 Brummell has also the credit of introducing those white tops 

 which the older generation of sportsmen regarded as effemi- 

 nate. Indeed, the old Squire Forester, of Willey, is reported 

 to have held the wearing of brown tops as being the mark of 

 the true sportsman. Brummell was always well mounted, 

 and his groom, Fryatt, turned him out to perfection. This 

 man, who afterwards kept the George at Melton, and made 

 a good deal of money by horse-dealing, was a first-rate 

 stableman and a good judge of hunters. Fryatt bought and 

 sold Brummell's horses without much reference to his master, 

 and it is said that the latter shared in the profits of many a 

 successful deal. Although it is likely that a man who was 

 so self-indulgent as Brummell, and whose courage, moreover, 

 was not above suspicion, did not care greatly for hunting, yet 

 he was a fair horseman. Nimrod says that he could ride 

 respectably, and we have evidence from the records of the 

 Belvoir Hunt that on one occasion, at least, he got to the end 

 of a severe run, being one of four up at the finish. 



This was among the few good days in a bad season 

 (December 28, 1801). The fox was in Melton Spinney, a 

 covert from which the Belvoir have had so many good runs. 

 Hounds ran over a line of country by no means easy to 

 ride, and if the fences were perhaps neither so numerous nor 

 so strong as they are to-day, the undrained fields were deeper, 

 and it must have needed some horsemanship to get to the 

 end of so long a chase. The line taken was from Melton 

 Spinney to Scalford and past Waltham Pastures. Then 

 hounds turned and ran by Garthorpe and Thisleton into 

 Exton Park, where the pack were stopped. Five men, be- 

 sides Newman the huntsman, were there.^ 



^ Messrs. Brummell, Sewell, Yarboro Junior, Douglas and the Duke 

 of Rutland. 



TI2 



