THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



He was a great authority on hunting, and had no superior in 

 the woods, for he could tell in a moment when a fox turned. 

 Parson Houson in the open, and old Litchford in the woods, 

 were not to be equalled. Three Messrs. Gordon, sons of the 

 rector of Muston, were grand horsemen, and quite undefeated 

 in their time. George and Frank are still alive, and the 

 latter hunts with the Fitzwilliam. 



It is indeed difficult to name one of the followers of the 

 hunt more than another, yet, of the Lincolnshire squires, 

 some stand out by reason of their long connection with the 

 hunt. 



Mr. John Earle Welby, of AlHngton, for instance, to whose 

 labours in the history of the hunt this book is so greatly 

 indebted, was in his day one of the foremost riders with the 

 Belvoir pack, taking his place beside such sportsmen of the 

 past and present as Sir John Thorold, Major Longstaffe, Mr. 

 Christopher Tumor, and the Rev. J. Houson, of Brant 

 Broughton. All these men were able to get to the end of 

 the longest runs, and could be, in their best day, stopped by 

 no fence in Lincolnshire or Leicestershire. They were not 

 merely followers of the pack, but each and all had a real 

 knowledge of hound lore and hunting science. 



Then there were Colonel Reeve, of Leadenham, quite a 

 fox-hunter of the older school, and his friend, the Rev. T. 

 Heathcote, rector of Lenton, the parish which afterwards had 

 the author of Verdant Green for its incumbent. The tower of 

 Lenton Church may often be seen in Mr. Cuthbert Bradley's 

 clever pictures, and is, too, a prominent landmark in many 

 a good run, while the Lenton Brook is known to all the 

 Belvoir men, and is not without its terrors for the less daring 

 or the less well-mounted of the field. 



The Earl of Brownlow is a good supporter of the hounds, 

 and so is the Earl of Dysart, whose dislike of trees is well 

 known, a peculiarity which is, as the Druid reminds us, 

 hereditary. The late Lord Winchilsea, the man who did so 

 much to form the agricultural party, owned coverts at Haver- 

 holme, at the extreme limit of the county. Colonel Wilson, 

 of Rauceby, is a great fox-preserver, and Sir William Earle 



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