THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



before he showed that he had inherited his father's judgment 

 in horseflesh, being generally well mounted on active, short- 

 legged horses, somewhat lower than was, and is, to the 

 general taste of Leicestershire riders. On these he was never 

 out of "good things." On the death of his father in 1828, 

 Mr. George Forester succeeded to the title, and two years 

 later he took the hounds. Shortly before this he very nearly 

 put an end to his career altogether. 



" Lord Forester encountered what may be termed an 

 ' awful case ' with the Duke of Rutland's hounds this season. 

 His lordship — a chip of the old block — delights in hounds, 

 and will be with them if it is on the cards. Coming down 

 one day on the Smite, hounds running very hard, he charged 

 it in his line where there happened to be a stake-and-bound 

 fence on the rising side. His horse touched one of the stakes 

 with his knee. The consequence was, the impetus with which 

 he was going, and which would have enabled him to have 

 cleared everything, was checked, and falling with great vio- 

 lence against the opposite bank, his neck, back, three ribs 

 and thigh were broken on the spot. His lordship escaped 

 with only a broken thumb. Lord Forester is now a member 

 of the Old Club at Melton Mowbray." ^ 



The Sporting Magazine of the day says that the arrange- 

 ment for hunting the country was that the Duke lent the 

 hounds, kennels and stables, and gave ;^ 1,200 (one authority 

 says ;^i,50o)^ a year towards the expenses. From a corre- 

 spondence between Lord Forester and General Reeves, now 

 in the possession of Mr. J. Reeves, of Leadenham House, it 

 appears that Lord Forester also took a subscription of ;^i,ooo 

 a year from the Grantham side of the country, and found 

 the rest of the expenses himself. The same magazine also 

 states that Sir Harry Goodricke shared in the responsibility 

 of taking over the hounds, but I cannot find any other 

 authority for this. It was, of course, after Nimrod had 

 left the magazine, and its sources of information were not 

 so trustworthy. There seems to have been a general idea 



* Sporting Magazine, old series, vol. clxxiv., p. 51. 

 ^ This was the amount given at first, afterwards reduced to ^1,200. 



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