THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



of horsemen and the thousands on foot gave three cheers for 

 the two Queens of England, which * made the welkin ring.' 

 On arriving at the park, Prince Albert left the carriage and 

 mounted his favourite hunter (Emancipation), as did the 

 Duke of Wellington, when the ' view-halloo ' was given to 

 these illustrious personages in true fox-hunting style. The 

 Royal carriage moved on through Waltham village, keeping 

 the road to the south of Melton, and took their station on 

 the high ground opposite the Melton spinnies. Lord Forester 

 brought the hounds to the window of the Royal carriage 

 for her Majesty's inspection, and they were shortly after 

 thrown into the spinnies, and immediately gave tongue. 

 Three foxes were a-foot, and on settling to one, he went off 

 to Clawson Thorns, where, being headed by some foot people, 

 he turned back towards the spinnies, and was run in to within 

 one field of the covert. Tried Freeby Wood, but did not 

 find. Trotted on to Waltham pasture, and found imme- 

 diately, but he was run to ground in three fields. Found a 

 third in Newman's Gorse, near Waltham, and went away 

 merrily for Sproxton Thorns ; a gallant run of three-quarters 

 of an hour, during the greater part of which the pace was 

 very fast. Most of the horses were dead beat, and not more 

 than a dozen up at the finish, among the foremost of whom 

 was the Prince. Both equerries in attendance on his Royal 

 Highness, Colonel Bouverie and Mr. G. E. Anson, had falis 

 which produced some good-humoured jokes at their expense." ^ 



We need not infer from the above that the Prince and the 

 Duke both rode the same horse. The allusion to the fox 

 reminds me of an incident to be found in a note in Mr. 

 Vyner's Notitia Venatica, when the Duke of Cambridge was 

 hunting with the hounds in 1842 : the fox, having fallen into 

 the canal at Redmile, was fished out, muzzled, and brought 

 to the Royal carriages for the inspection of the ladies. 



The Prince himself, in a letter to his mentor Stockmar,^ 

 tells of his visit to Belvoir, and his appearance in the hunting 

 field. " At Belvoir," he says, " there was a large brilliant 



^ Sporting Magazine^ January, 1844. 



' Life of the Prince Consort^ by Theodore Martin, 3rd ed., vol. i., p. 196. 



172 



