THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



A scratch pack ; but he has about twenty couple which has 

 been given him by friends (not drafts), very good hounds. 



" If you do not want any cubs disturbing I shall go to Irn- 

 ham on Monday, as I think that will tell Mr. Woodhouse his 

 keepers are not so trustworthy as he gives them credit for. 

 He (Mr. Woodhouse) told me in the summer he was deter- 

 mined to have foxes or no keepers, but at this time it is the 

 very reverse." 



As a horseman Goodall was, possibly, not equal to his im- 

 mediate successors, Cooper and Gillard, for I have been told 

 by good judges that Jem Cooper at his best was one of the 

 finest as well as one of the boldest horsemen who ever came 

 to Lincolnshire. Goodall was not very well mounted, though 

 he made the best of his horses, as of everything else, with that 

 courageous spirit of his. He was bold as a lion, fearing no- 

 thing, and though when coming over a big fence he might not 

 always land in an orthodox position, he generally got to the 

 far side and was seldom far from his hounds. Indeed he had 

 that tact and judgment which enables a huntsman to be always 

 near the hounds without appearing actually to lead the field, 

 and enables him to save his horse. Goodall had this gift of 

 making the most of his horse, and a very great one it is. In 

 his early school, as second horseman to Mr. T. Drake and 

 Ben Foot, he had learned to get across country with the least 

 possible exertion to the horse, yet at times he was very bold. 

 Once the field came up to a very stiff gate, hounds were on 

 the other side. Will's place was with them, so wheeling his 

 horse round he flew the gate and was alone with the pack for 

 twenty minutes. 



" Will Goodall was a wonderful sportsman," writes Mr. 

 Finder, of Barrowby, than whom few men know more about 

 the Belvoir hounds and country, and to whose delightful 

 little book I have more than once referred. " Will 

 Goodall's heart and soul were in his work, and it was 

 seldom that a tired fox escaped him. When the quarry was 

 sinking it frequently happened that some of those who were 

 near enough would vociferate, ' There he goes, dead beaten,' 

 upon which Will would exclaim, ' For goodness' sake hold 



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