THE BEL VOIR COUNTRY 



country as Mr. Cecil Forester, Sir James Musgrave, Mr. 

 Assheton Smith, Mr. Little Gilmour, Lord Jersey and Colonel 

 Mellish, the last named a reckless and a hard rider, who was 

 one of George IV.'s favourite companions, and many other 

 famous riders have contended over in the past — "this 'ere 

 very Freeby (a beautiful little covert of about fifty acres). 

 There were nearly two hundred with the Duke's that day ; 

 such a crasher over the Lings to Croxton Park wall in six- 

 teen minutes. I was head man all the way. Sir James was on 

 old grey Baronet. Lord Gardner, Mr. Maxse, and Sir Harry 

 [Goodriche] — he was on Limner — were the only ones near 

 me." ^ The best horses and riders in England may still be seen 

 here, and the crowd taxes the patience of Sir Gilbert Greenall, 

 the present master, and the quickness and decision of Ben 

 Capell, his huntsman, as it has done that of their predeces- 

 sors. If, in such a spin as is here spoken of, a man can see 

 something of hounds, and be up at the finish, he will be able 

 to hold his own anywhere. 



On another day a comfortable trot would take the sports- 

 man to a fixture whence he might hope to gallop over the 

 vale. But he may not go far, for it is the stiffest of countries, 

 and fences formidable enough in themselves have in wet 

 weather the added terror of having to be attempted from 

 deep and holding clay. The following story comes down 

 to us : — 



" A man came from the other side of Leicestershire to 

 Grantham with his horses, and hunted some few days in the 

 lighter parts of the country, . . . but was constantly saying 

 he could find nothing worth riding over. Presently he went 

 to a meet in the vale. The hounds found and went away ; 

 the regular Belvoir men, knowing their way about, stuck to a 

 green lane. . . . The first opportunity the thruster turned 

 from the lane through a gate into a field ; but alas ! the fence 

 was not to his liking. He had found more to jump than he 

 wanted ; and having ridden dolefully round the enclosure to 

 seek an exit, and finding none, returned to the gate by which 

 he entered, greatly to the amusement of all who saw the 

 * Silk and Scarlet^ p. 48. 

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