HUNTS AND THEIR HISTORY 121 



Vernon's Hounds — Famous Hunt Clubs — Lord Anson's 

 Mastership — Mr. Oakley — Mr. J. C. Munro — Lord Denbigh's 

 Coverts — Other Landowners who Support the Hunt — The 

 Warwickshire and North Warwickshire — Character of the 

 Country — The Shuckburgh Country — Stratford-on-Avon — 

 The Plough Lands — Nimrod's Views — Mr. Corbet — An Old 

 Writer on the Warwickshire Country — Will Barrow — Lord 

 Middleton— Mr. Shirley— Mr. Vyner's Scratch Pack — Other 

 Masters — Leamington as a Hunting Centre — Mr. Baker — 

 Peter Collison— Hounds Crossed with Bloodhounds — Lord 

 Willoughby de Broke. 



This chapter will deal with the packs that hunt the 

 various countries which are included in the general 

 term of the " Shires." The word, though an awkward 

 one, is commended to us by usage and by the fact 

 that it expresses our meaning. There are other 

 " grass " countries besides those treated of in this 

 volume, but, though their hunting is over pasture 

 land for the most part, they are not included in the 

 Shires, the fixtures of which can be reached from 

 the centres treated of in the foregoing chapters. In 

 the following pages I shall sketch the history, organisa- 

 tion and methods of hunting of these packs of hounds. 

 The history of some of the packs has been written 

 in full or in part by those who have had access to 

 the papers of the various masters and huntsmen, 

 or whose personal knowledge of the country has 

 made them authorities on the subject. My object 

 here is only to give such a general view of the past 

 of the hunts as may enable a visitor to understand 

 their present position. 



There is an undoubted increase of pleasure in hunt- 

 ing over ground which has been connected with so 

 many famous men in the past. In the Quorn, the 

 Belvoir, the Pytchley and Mr. Fernie's hunt there 

 is no covert, nay there is scarcely a field or a fence 



