114 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



The late Lord Hopetoun, master of the Pytchley in 1852, was 

 a good supporter, and there is a covert in the hunt still known 

 as Lord Hopetoun's ; and I remember seeing the present lord out 

 with him in the holidays, and no smarter little fellow ever sat on 

 a pony. Captain Whitniore at Gumley, well known behind his 

 fine team of greys in the park ; Sir Henry Halford, of Wistow 

 Hall ; Mr. J. B. Angell, of Lubenham, the owner of Alcibiade ; 

 the late Mr. Baillie, of Ilston Grange ; the Eev. Cave Hum- 

 phrey, of Langton ; Major Bethune, of Barton Overy ; Col. and 

 Mrs. Arthur, late of Desbro'. The Messrs. Goslings came out 

 from Harborough in almost a regiment (one of them now has the 

 Puckeridge), and the Messrs. de Murietta, well known l)oth 

 in the hunting-field and on the polo ground, &c., &c. Space 

 will not allow me to name a quarter, but I have done enough to 

 shoAv what a change was wrought by the division of an over- 

 sized country, on the certainty of its being regularly hunted. 

 Jack Goddard succeeded Tom Day, and after him came Frank 

 Goodall, as good a fellow and good a huntsman as ever lived, 

 and he continued to carry the horn until he was oft'ered the 

 post of huntsman to the Eoyal buckhounds in 1872, and very 

 sorry were the Leicestershire people to lose him. 



Mr. Tailby then took the horn himself, with Dick Christian 

 as kennel huntsman and first whip ; this arrangement was kept 

 on until 1876, when Mr. Tailby resigned the horn to Christian 

 — no doubt a very wise proceeding, as Leicestershire is a country 

 that very decidedly wants both a master and huntsman in the 

 field ; for when the former fills both parts, and is attending to 

 his hounds, it is impossible that he can keep his field in order, 

 unless he has extraordinary command over them, and is a 

 man something quite out of the average. 



In the spring of 1877 Christian left, and Eichard Summers, 

 who had been first whip in the Meynell country, where he 

 had given great satisfaction, became huntsman, and although 

 the country was strange to him, he managed to show capital 

 sport, and there ^vas a succession of good runs all through 



