Chapter X 



THE GOLDEN AGE 

 I 



1842-1859 



THE years that follow are the most splendid in the his- 

 tory of the hunt. The farmers and the landlords were 

 still prosperous, though observant men could see the clouds 

 gathering. It was however probably the period in our his- 

 tory when trade and agriculture prospered best side by side. 

 Reform had not yet proved to be the prelude to a revolution, 

 and the lords of Belvoir still lived among their people with 

 the traditional and princely splendour of old. The Duke, 

 fond as he was of society, had now a new motive in drawing 

 round him a circle of friends, and Belvoir was, as it has 

 always been, the meeting ground of political and literary 

 distinction with the representatives of royalty and rank. 

 The sons of the house were now grown up. Lord Granby 

 was a keen sportsman and one of the hardest riders of his 

 day. Indeed, his boldness across country was such as to 

 approach the borders of recklessness. Lord John Manners 

 was already in Parliament as the colleague of Mr. Gladstone 

 at Newark, when that great man was the rising hope of the 

 Tory party, and the future leader of the Tories was still 

 struggling with the prejudices he had raised against him- 

 self Lord George was a gay young Horse Guardsman. 

 Distinguished visitors succeeded one another in rapid pro- 

 cession through the rooms at Belvoir. Of the royal family 

 the Duke's old friends had all passed away, with the excep- 

 tion of the late Duke of Cambridge, who is said during one 

 of his visits to the Castle to have stuck in a very muddy 

 ditch in his eagerness to obtain the brush. The Duke of 



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