26 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



will see the different packs in their best country, and 

 thus be able to decide with which particular hunt he 

 will throw in his lot. By the time he has had this 

 experience he will require no assistance from any one 

 in making up his mind. 



The various towns of which I am going to write have 

 become fashionable resorts for hunting people because 

 they are so situated that the best meets of the most 

 famous packs are within reach from them. The visitor 

 to Melton, Market Harborough, or Rugby is not by any 

 means tied to one pack. Rather he will skim the cream 

 of several hunts. There is no doubt that Melton is the 

 first thought of every one who contemplates a visit to 

 the Shires, for its advantages are obvious to any one 

 who will take a map and draw a circle of ten miles 

 round the town. He will find that within that radius 

 is some of the very best country for hunting over that 

 Leicestershire or Rutland affords. If he knows any- 

 thing of hunting history, he will recognise names of 

 coverts that are household words wherever hunting is 

 talked of, coverts that are connected with the great 

 riders, the able huntsmen, and the historic runs of the 

 past. It may also occur to him that from Melton he 

 can hunt six days a week, yet never breakfast at an 

 uncomfortably early hour and seldom reach home too 

 late for dinner. 



He will also note that if he desires to visit more 

 distant packs the joint railways, the L. & N.W. and 

 the G.N.R., will be quite ready to give him a day with 

 Mr. Fernie's or the Pytchley, if he should think the 

 former too far to ride or drive to, or if, on the other 

 hand, he desires to pit himself against the hard riders 

 that wear the famous white collar. Every one who 

 has thought of hunting from Melton has probably read 

 Brooksby's story of the " Best Season on Record," 



