THE GOLDEN AGE 



Limner (1829), whose brothers Lexicon and Lucifer were of 

 equal renown in 1825, and Layman by Leader, also a noted 

 hound. Leader was by the Duke of Grafton's Labyrinth, 

 and on his mother's side goes right back to Actor (1792), one 

 of the older Belvoir sort. In due time Needless became, by 

 alliance with the Yarborough Rallywood, mother of Chaser, 

 from which we get the hound Wonder, and so to Weather- 

 gage. Another hound that distinguished itself in this run 

 was Lictor, which has two more marks against his name than 

 Needless. He was noted for his early love of hunting when 

 he was at walk at Clawson, and would hunt with the Belvoir, 

 the Cottesmore and the Quorn on his own account as the 

 fancy took him. The Quorn once found a fox at Holwell 

 Mouth and killed him at Belvoir. Near Clawson hounds 

 were checked by some dry, dusty plough, and out dashed 

 a black-and-tan hound with the Belvoir brand, and carrying 

 the line right over the difficulty, set the pack going. This 

 hound was Lictor. When Jack Morgan, then Sir Richard's 

 huntsman, came to Belvoir, Will, with just pride, pointed him 

 out. " There, my lad, that's the dog that killed your fox for 

 you, but you won't get him. I'll keep him to show me the road 

 into some of your country." A run into the Quorn country 

 was always the desire of Will's heart. 



This was a bad season for sport, we learn from the diary, 

 and hounds were stopped for no less than fifty-one days by 

 frost and snow. On January the i6th the frost set in with 

 terrible severity, and hounds did not go out again till Feb- 

 ruary the 28th. It was this year that the Thames was frozen 

 over. Weary of the inaction, Lord Forester took out hounds 

 in the snow. This winter belongs to history as the terrible 

 one spent by our army in the Crimea, and the magnificent 

 patience and courage with which our men bore their hard- 

 ships spoke volumes for the training given them by English 

 sports. It is not only the physical endurance taught by these 

 sports, but the whole tradition of manly courage, which 

 spreads throughout the whole of English society. 



We are not as a nation braver, cleverer or better than 

 others, but we have the advantage that hunting, shooting, 



179 



