THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



ston's kennel and that of the Duke of Rutland, apparently 

 to the advantage of both, while the latter, by their constant 

 recurrence to Brocklesby, were saved from the muteness 

 which was the great fault of the squire's pack, especially 

 after he took his hounds into the Pytchley country. These 

 hounds had the virtue of getting together quickly on the line 

 of their fox when he goes away, which is, as we know, so 

 distinguishing a mark of the Belvoir to-day. On the whole, 

 the connection of the Belvoir with the squire was a fortunate 

 one, for though opinions might differ as to the squire's merits 

 as a huntsman, every one acknowledged that he was the best 

 hound-breeder of his day. 



With a slight admixture of Grove blood. Goosey preserved 

 the same general principles of breeding, going back again 

 and again to those kennels in which there was a strong in- 

 fusion of Belvoir blood, and striving always to graft on the 

 race of Belvoir the nose of Yarborough. 



If we look for contemporary opinion on the subject of the 

 hounds we shall have no difficulty in drawing a picture for 

 ourselves of the Belvoir pack. 



This is what Nimrod says at the close of the season 1824-25. 

 His remarks incidentally tell us what a good kennel hunts- 

 man Goosey was, for the season had been a hard one, and 

 hounds hunted one hundred and twenty-two days, and killed 

 ninety-four foxes. Mr. Apperley met hounds at Stubton, 

 which is still, what it was then, one of the stiffest parts of 

 the Belvoir country. 



" I was told the day before by a hard-riding Meltonian 

 that I must screw up my nerves if I went into the Stubton 

 country, and I think I never did see one so strongly fenced. 

 If I could have made use of the pencil, I would have brought 

 away a sketch of one of them. It was a blackthorn hedge, 

 about eight inches higher than the top of my hat as I stood 

 on the ground, with growers in it as thick as a man's thigh, 

 plashed at the top, and with a wide ditch on one side. On 

 remarking to Mr. Robert Grosvenor that it was a stiff country, 

 he observed that it was so, to be sure. ' But,' added he, ' a 

 man has nothing to do but to throw his heart over and follow 



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