142 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



Craven and Lord Alvanley were visitors and followers 

 of the pack. Yet, on the whole, it may be said that 

 the hunt was supported as much for the benefit of 

 the neighbourhood as for the pleasure of its owners. 



In the history of the Belvoir, then, we shall notice 

 that there were a number of deputy Masters. Sir 

 Carnaby Haggerstone, Lord George Cavendish and 

 Mr. Thomas Thoroton managed the hounds during 

 the absence of the fourth Duke in Ireland and after 

 his death in 1787, until, in 1791, Mr. Perceval took 

 the entire control. The pack hunted two days a 

 week, and the yearly cost, as shown by a balance- 

 sheet still in the possession of the Duke of Rutland, 

 amounted to ;^775, los. In 1799 the fifth Duke of 

 Rutland took over the mastership, which in 1830 he 

 handed over to Lord Forester, the successor of Mr. 

 Meynell's Cecil Forester. Lord Forester gave up the 

 hounds in 1857, and thus out of eighty-four years 

 for no less than forty-two the hounds were managed 

 by Masters who were not of the Manners family. 



When we hunt with the Belvoir, we must not 

 forget that a great debt of gratitude is due to the 

 memory of Lord Forester. His judgment it was 

 that selected Will Goodall, when only a second 

 whipper-in, for the post of huntsman in succession 

 to old Goosey. Lord Forester supported and en- 

 couraged Goodall in his efforts to improve the pack, 

 so that it should not merely be first-rate at work, 

 but both in this respect and in make, shape and 

 quality should surpass all others. Lord Forester and 

 Goodall had excellent material to work on, for " two 

 such judges as Mr. Lambton and Sir Richard Sutton 

 had declared that they always felt discontented with 

 their own hounds after a visit to Belvoir. The aim 

 of Goodall was to preserve the rare quality of the 



