THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



garrulousness on sporting subjects will live as long as hunting 

 itself :— 



"Death has been rife among sportsmen. Now poor Will 

 Goodall has joined the number. It has been well said — 



* The image of a man who died 

 In his heyday of renown 

 Has a fearful power, into which the pride 

 Of fiery life bows down ' ; 



and truly the news of his death brought tears to many a 

 brother huntsman's eyes (for he had lived down all jealousy) 

 and fairly thrilled through Leicestershire. There is hardly a 

 man for miles round Belvoir but feels he has lost a friend and 

 dreads the return of the season and no Will at the cover side 

 on Knipton or ' my good little Emperor.' He was as cheery 

 and energetic as ever to the last, but he had for some time 

 past been labouring under a slight cold, and his doctor used 

 to tell him that he could never get well till the hunting was 

 over. Croxton Races he enjoyed amazingly, and as usual he 

 came to his wife for a handful of silver for his friends among 

 the yokels, who generally expected a glass of ale if he had 

 not caught them heading foxes or giving false halloos during 

 the season. They used always to be on the look-out for 

 him as he kept the course with his whips, and many a joke 

 passed between them. There was a great joke against one 

 of them for his avarice. Will had marked him down during 

 the year for something, but as he was one of the good boys 

 that day and kept behind the cords so well he was honoured 

 with half a crown. He positively grumbled, and Will in his 

 pleasant way said, ' We//, give it me back' and the man, 

 thinking from the tone that it was to be exchanged for a 

 crown, did so, and Will rode off with it, and taught him a 

 lesson which his comrades did not forget to keep alive. He 

 was rather amused this year with five of the farmers' Plate 

 horses getting distanced, and made a note of it in his Hunt- 

 ing Diary along with Zuyder Zee's victory. Two or three 

 more hunting days followed, and the last one when they met 

 at Belvoir. We gave it last month in Will's own words, for 

 nearly every account of the Belvoir sport for the last season 



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