THE HISTORY OF THE BELVOIR HUNT 



of the street. Hundreds came on Sunday to look at the 

 place. Our groom said I was mad. I had five horses for 

 five days at Belvoir, two a day, and only had one sound one, 

 and that was Grey Bob. I used to tell the stud-groom I 

 would bring them home sound." One day, from Colonel 

 Reeve's gorse at Leadenham, Wells was going down to the 

 bottom to view the fox away. Mr. Clark, the great sheep 

 feeder, was there with a friend. He said, " Will, if we find a 

 fox, how are you going to get over that fence [a very big 

 ditch, with a post and rails] from me ? " " Wait and see," said 

 Will. At that moment a fox broke. " Now, let us see," said 

 Mr. Clark, and Will, giving his horse a ten-yards' run, flew the 

 fence. " Come on," said the whipper-in, " and see me jump the 

 next fence." Whether the invitation was accepted history 

 does not say. But Wells, who was an enthusiastic admirer of 

 good riding, bears testimony to the exploits of others. " Mr. 

 Clark," he says, " was a grand man to hounds, one of the 

 very best. Then the Messrs. Rudkin and the Hayes were 

 splendid men over a country, and good farmers as well, and 

 great friends to foxes. So, too, the Heathcote family : Miss 

 Lucy (now Mrs. C. Bradley) and Miss Gertrude and Mr. Tom 

 were all hard to beat. A very fine horseman was Mr. James 

 Hutchinson, of Munthorpe, Grantham. He would say to me, 

 at a big fence, ' Come on. Will.' He was a good man on a 

 young horse, and often rode colts and fillies three and four 

 year-olds. I rode all sorts of horses the seven years I was in 

 the shires, and had less falls than in any other country. The 

 Puckeridge and Hertfordshire countries were much more 

 difficult to get over without falls." Will Wells has now been 

 for six years huntsman to the Hertfordshire. 



We may take the year 1886 as perhaps that in which the 

 pack reached the highest point of perfection, which will no 

 doubt be sustained in the future, but can never be surpassed. 

 It was about this time that an admirable series of articles 

 were published in the Field, called " The Kennels of England," 

 written by Mr. G. S. Lowe. All students of hound-breeding 

 will find much useful information in them. Of the Belvoir 

 bitches he writes : — 



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