THE GOLDEN AGE 



may hope the rest of the book from which this is taken 

 displays more thought than is suggested by the fact that the 

 writer evidently imagines five-barred gates to have yawning 

 chasms beside them, as traps for the unwary. The fact is, 

 the historian is in such a hurry to show that the Prince's 

 hunting at all was a concession from lofty heights of intellec- 

 tual and moral eminence, that like many other superior per- 

 sons he forgets to be accurate or even to use his common 

 sense. The Prince was much too good and wise a man to 

 regard with scorn aught that interested the men of his time. 

 Besides, not even the element of over-precision imported into 

 his education by Stockmar could extinguish altogether the 

 sporting instincts transmitted to him by his ancestors. As 

 to the incidents of the day, let a less magnificent but better 

 instructed historian, who was an eye-witness, tell us. 



" The fixture on the fifth having been announced for Crox- 

 ton Park, and a general opinion prevailing that her Majesty 

 and the Queen Dowager would be present to see the hounds 

 throw off, and that the Prince Consort would join the hunt, 

 an immense concourse of gentry and yeomen assembled at 

 the Castle, the hounds being under the command of Lord 

 Forester. At eleven, her Majesty, Queen Adelaide, Prince 

 Albert, and the Duke of Rutland entered a carriage- 

 and-four, escorted by outriders in his Grace's livery, 

 mounted on thorough-breds, and, followed by the ladies- 

 in-waiting in another carriage-and-four, proceeded by the 

 public road, the bulk of the equestrians taking the 

 noble Duke's private road. As the cavalcade passed 

 along the route, which was lined for nearly a quarter of a 

 mile with carriages of every description, numerous horse- 

 men joined it, and by the time Croxton Park was within 

 sight, there were full three hundred persons present, which 

 every moment increased, and by the time it reached the park, 

 had swelled to eight hundred, including nearly all the mem- 

 bers of the Melton Hunt, in hunting costume, and several 

 ladies, among whom were Miss Manners, of Goadby Hall, a 

 relative of the Rutland family ; and Miss Charlesworth and 

 Miss Doyle, both well known in Leicestershire. The crowd 



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