HUNTS AND THEIR HISTORY i8i 



that was market-day at Warwick. He lived at 

 Clopton House near Stratford, and always attended 

 the dinners of the Hunt Club at the White Lion at 

 Stratford-on-Avon every other Thursday during the 

 hunting season. It was not a very convenient place 

 to hunt the country from. " The town of Stratford- 

 on-Avon, the headquarters of the Warwickshire 

 Hunt, has little to recommend it, save a handsome 

 church, a bridge and an excellent accommodation for 

 sportsmen at the inns." Then, as a kind of after- 

 thought the writer (an anonymous one in the New 

 sporting Magazine) adds, " The house in which Shake- 

 speare was born is still standing and reminds us of 

 a pleasing feature in ancient history." The same 

 writer, who is enthusiastic in his praises of everything 

 belonging to Warwickshire, adds, " The enclosures of 

 Warwickshire are for the most part of a fair size, par- 

 ticularly in the grazing districts, which I should esti- 

 mate at one-third of the whole extent of the country." 

 This included, it must be remembered, what we now 

 know as the North Warwickshire. " Taking it as a 

 whole, I consider the soil very favourable to scent, 

 as the staple is generally good. A great portion of 

 the plough lands, however, are very tender after hard 

 frosts succeeded by rains, and Warwickshire may be 

 termed a deep country to ride over and one which 

 requires strong and well-bred horses." 



To return to Mr. Corbet, he was an excellent judge 

 of hounds, and, although Colonel Cook, the author of 

 the " Observations on Fox-hunting," thought (prob- 

 ably with justice) that Mr. Corbet was too fond of 

 the blood of the Trojans, yet these hounds were con- 

 sidered to be good line hunters and very stout by 

 those who followed them. Of Mr Corbet as a rider 

 I have already written. He had a great knowledge 



