152 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



Mr. C. M'Neill, the Master of the North Cotswold, 

 and Mr. Carnaby Foster, of the Ledbury, have both 

 taken a first-class as huntsmen. Mr. C. Mills, too, 

 is deputy-master of the Worcestershire. Then Kinch, 

 a first whipper-in, at one time hunted the Ather- 

 stone, and of Thatcher of the Cottesmore every one 

 has heard. All of these came out of the Billesdon 

 country, where they were well known as hard and 

 keen riders over the country and as careful students 

 of the work of hounds. 



Mr. Femie's country lies entirely in Leicestershire. 

 The kennels are at Medbourne, a pretty village on the 

 Welland, but in the extreme corner of the county 

 and of the hunt. They have about sixty couple of 

 hounds in kennels, a charming pack with the true 

 make, the good loins, the hocks near the ground and 

 the beautiful necks and shoulders which enable them 

 to gallop all day without tiring up and down the 

 hills of their country, and to travel at a pace which is 

 surpassed by no other pack of our time. 



V. The Pytchley 



Taking the packs in order from a centre, the pack 

 next of importance to Market Harborough visitors 

 is the famous Pytchley Hunt. I have dwelt on its 

 history because, unlike the Quorn and the Belvoir, this 

 hunt has not yet found its systematic historian. There 

 is a pleasant book written by Mr. Nethercote which 

 rather contains Memoirs pour servir than a complete 

 account of the Hunt. Indeed, the mastership of 

 Mr. Naylor is scarcely noted in its pages, but luckily 

 our old friend Baily's Magazine has filled the gap 



