i86 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



Willoughby de Broke was hunting hounds one day a 

 week in a rough plough and woodland part of the 

 country. It was hard work, but the young Master 

 showed the same pluck and endurance with which he 

 afterwards bore the long purgatory of a most trying 

 and painful complaint. In 1881, when Orvis left 

 the hunt, he took the horn himself and for many 

 years hunted the hounds with the same indomitable 

 judgment and perseverance that he showed through- 

 out his life. One incident I cannot forbear quoting, 

 for it is, so far as I know, unparalleled in hunting 

 story. 



It was " when hounds came down Shuckburgh 

 Hill into a dense fog the master rode over that stiff 

 country to Calcot to the cry of the hounds ... he 

 told me that the fog lifted for a moment and he saw 

 the fox nearly beat and Sparkler running him alone." * 



Of the Masters of our time he was perhaps the most 

 successful in dealing with the wire difficulty. " He 

 could stand on Brailes and Ilmington Hills and look 

 over the whole country and know that there was 

 scarcely a strand of wire in it and that the hounds 

 were everywhere welcome." It is, therefore, small 

 wonder that sportsmen and hard riders flocked to 

 the country and that Warwickshire stands high for 

 sport. When, too, I look up and see before me as I 

 write the engraving of the fine portrait that was 

 presented to Lord Willoughby de Broke on his retire- 

 ment, I feel that we have had in our generation a 

 Master of hounds who, in all the relations of life as in 

 the practice of sport, stands as an example to those 

 who shall come after him. Hunting is not in danger 

 while we have such men to lead us in the sport and 

 to rule over our hunting countries. 



* Bailys Magazine, March, 1903, p. 202. 



