HUNTS AND THEIR HISTORY 127 



should recognise the limits of his hounds' powers 

 and come to their assistance is necessary, and in the 

 Midlands it is also needful that he should understand 

 the conditions imposed upon him by the numbers 

 of people who hunt. Some huntsmen are bewildered 

 by the crowd, and excellent men have therefore failed 

 entirely in the Shires. 



The criticisms often inspired by ignorance are also 

 continual and trying, but must be borne with. More- 

 over, if the huntsman will reflect, there is truth in 

 some of the grumbling. He has, it may be, shown 

 an excellent hunting run. Yet the followers are not 

 pleased. Why ? Because with such a crowd no one 

 has been able to see it. The huntsman in the Shires 

 then must always be striving for a quick start, the 

 whole secret of sport lying in the work of the first 

 ten minutes, which shakes the crowd into their places 

 and disperses them widely. Time, like money, is 

 best made by small economies ; and the huntsman, 

 though never in a hurry, must never lose an instant. 

 Every second is of importance to him for the double 

 purpose of pressing his fox and getting clear of the 

 crush behind. Thus, not to dwell longer on a sub- 

 ject which would lead me too far, we may say that 

 the history of fox-hunting in the Shires is epitomised 

 in the story of the huntsmen who have handled the 

 horn. 



I. The Quorn. 



The first pack to be dealt with is the Quorn. It 

 matters little whether or not this is the most ancient 

 pack, for modern hunting dates from Mr. Meynell, 

 and he was master of the Quorn from 1753 to 1800. 



