THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



Says Cecil, " I see that some party has taken 

 The place with my Lord I have wisely forsaken ; 

 Do look at the couple, pray who can it be 

 Who follows a leader instead of being free ? " 



Oh where in the thickening fog can we find 

 The two gallant sportsmen we left far behind ? 

 Do they patiently sit on the top of the ridge, 

 Expecting the fox will return by the bridge ? 



Cries Cecil enveloped in glory and mud, 

 "This lesson will do my Lord Forester good; 

 For years we have had an encounter of wits — 

 Our score is cleared off, for to-day we are quits." 



Then, too, there were the Kings and the Blands, and many 

 others, whose names are mentioned by Mr. Frederick Sloane 

 Stanley in his " Recollections." 



But to return to a more detailed account of the country. 

 For convenience' sake we may class it in five divisions — the 

 Melton side, the vale, the heath country, the Folkingham 

 district and the ploughs ; though, of course, any such divi- 

 sion must be rough and general. Fields of plough will be 

 found to trouble our course over the grass, and stretches of 

 grass come to relieve the monotony of the plough. The true 

 centre of the sport is at Belvoir or Grantham, Melton as a 

 rule only coming in on Wednesday, and on alternate Satur- 

 days. 



Let us assume then that a sportsman has taken up his 

 abode at Grantham or Melton, according to his means and 

 tastes, he will be able to lay out his week's hunting easily 

 enough. Of course the wish of those who visit the country 

 for the first time is to see the historic meeting-place of 

 Croxton Park, where the race-course still is, and the arena 

 over which such riding men of the past as Lord Waterford, 

 Dick Christian and Lord Wilton have been seen in bygone 

 days. 



Here he would take the fastest and boldest horse he 

 has, for it is as a rule a good scenting country, with fences 

 not so stout as elsewhere, but over which hounds fly for 

 short bursts, and where he may ride the very same line of 



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