THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



token of their esteemand respect, also of their grateful appre- 

 ciation of the sport which during twenty years his liberality 

 has provided them. 1877." The presentation was made 

 in the fine old guard-room of the Castle by Sir William 

 Welby Gregory, Bart., and the brilliant scene will never be 

 forgotten by those present. The late Duke, in his reply, 

 struck the right key when he enthusiastically declared that " I 

 hope that so long as this Castle remains the Belvoir hounds 

 may wake the echoes of its woods and of its vales." He then 

 alluded to what was owing to the preservers of foxes, the 

 owners of coverts, and the tenant farmers who allowed their 

 land to be ridden over. His happiest remarks were, however, 

 when he spoke of the pleasures of the chase. " I should like to 

 give expression," he said, " to my conviction that hunting is 

 the noblest, is the finest, is the most unselfish sport I know. 

 Long may it flourish ! All are welcome. All classes meet 

 together — the peer, the landowner, the yeoman and the pea- 

 sant. You see them all enjoy it. All shake hands — they are 

 all as one body. We rejoice in a good run, we regret over a 

 bad scent. We clear the fence together, we fall into the brook 

 and we laugh together. I hope that hunting will long con- 

 tinue to flourish." And then the loud cheers which arose as 

 his Grace spiritedly recited the lines of the old hunting song, 

 " There is only one cure for all maladies," etc., may be better 

 imagined than described. Belvoir's lordly towers were well- 

 nigh shaken by the sound, and no happier moment was 

 there in the sixth Duke of Rutland's life than when he 

 stood surrounded by his many intimate friends and friendly 

 tenants. 



From time to time in all hunts questions arise on the sub- 

 ject of boundaries, and we have seen that a difficulty arose 

 with the Ouorn during Lord Stamford's mastership about 

 Holwell Mouth, which was happily settled by the personal 

 intervention of the Duke. In 1878 some slight difficulty arose 

 with the Blankney Hunt about Bloxholm Gorse. General 

 Reeve had apparently asked Gillard to find out the exact 

 position of the two hunts with regard to this neutral covert. 

 Frank Gillard wrote as follows : — 



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