HUNTS AND THEIR HISTORY 147 



for that kind of fence, the late Lord Hopetoun, who 

 hved at Papillon's Hall, Captain Whitmore, of Gumley 

 Hall, whose team of greys was a feature of the coach- 

 ing meets at The Magazine in Hyde Park in bygone 

 days. Major Bethune of Burton Overy, Colonel Baillie 

 of Illston, Mr. Hay of Great Bowden, and last but not 

 least, Mr. Tailby of Skefhngton, a very hard man, 

 who still rides to hounds and can take a fence and risk 

 a fall with many a younger man. He set the example 

 of riding hard, and they still show the gate which he 

 attempted, took a severe fall, picked himself up and 

 went on after his hounds. Shortly afterwards the 

 hounds ran back over the same line when the Master 

 on the same horse charged the same gate as gaily as 

 before and this time cleared it without a fall, as he 

 deserved to do. 



The same cheery friendly spirit which marked the 

 hunt in those days prevails still, and the Billesdon 

 remains a hunt neither spoilt by wealth nor corrupted 

 by fashion. Nowhere indeed so much as here does 

 the gallant old Leicestershire spirit survive. There 

 were fewer ladies hunting then than now, but still 

 this hunt has never failed to attract those who loved 

 to be with hounds when they run, such as Mrs. Arthur 

 of Desborough, the late Mrs. Douglass and others 

 who, being still with us, shall not be named here, but 

 who are quite as keen, as gallant, and as brave as those 

 who went before them. The time, however, of which 

 I have spoken was too good to last, and when the late 

 Lord Lonsdale took the mastership of the Cottesmore 

 he not unnaturally reclaimed this attractive side of his 

 country, which had the effect not only of curtailing the 

 Billesdon country but deprived the hunt of practically 

 all its woodlands. For a time Mr. Tailby hunted the 

 reduced country two days a week, but in 1878 he 



