A WEEK AT MELTON 31 



pleasant and more comfortable to hunt from one's 

 own house than from lodgings or an hotel. 



It has been said that the day of Melton is passing, 

 that the town has been invaded by manufactories, that 

 it is too crowded, and that the society is somewhat 

 mixed. But granted that there is some truth in these 

 objections, still there is no other place that can give 

 so much hunting over such a good country with so little 

 road work and so many advantages as Melton, and 

 it remains, in spite of all deductions, the best hunting 

 centre in the world. 



For those who do not like to live in or near a town, 

 there are many pleasant villages round Melton, in 

 which a good many well-known hunting people pitch 

 their tents. According as we choose one or other of 

 these, we shall find of course that the advantage of 

 the central position of Melton is to a certain extent 

 lost. Two or three miles, indeed, is not a long distance, 

 but it is an appreciable addition to the evening ride 

 home when we and our horses are tired. On the other 

 hand, to the sociable person who dislikes a solitary 

 evening, the town is the pleasanter place. But we 

 will suppose that this important point has been settled, 

 that Melton with its good shops and convenient rail- 

 way service is your choice, and that you have plenty 

 of horses. Now, we will proceed to consider how the 

 week is to be spent and what kind of country you 

 will find to ride over on each successive day. 



The regular Melton man begins his week with the 

 Quorn as a matter of course. Indeed, although but 

 two days or occasionally three days of the week are 

 spent with this pack, yet it is the hunt to which he 

 belongs, whose uniform he wears in the field and in 

 the ball-room, and whose are the initials Q.H. that 

 he is proud to wear on his buttons. He will hunt 



