2o8 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



that they discovered how big those obstacles were 

 which had been got over so easily. The earliest of 

 these of which we have any record was the first Lord 

 Forester. He was a heavy-weight, yet a horse, it 

 is said, would stay under him a longer time than 

 under many a far lighter man. Nimrod, who knew 

 him well and had followed him over a country, ac- 

 counts for this by the fineness of his hand and the 

 care he took to prevent his horses from leaping higher 

 or farther than was absolutely necessary to clear 

 their fences. Very similar must have been the 

 style of the Lord Wilton, whom no one ever saw in 

 a hurry, who was never far from hounds and who 

 yet never saw— so he said — the big places others 

 talked of. 



Last, but not least, came Tom Firr, the famous 

 huntsman of the Quorn, who was as notable as a 

 horseman as he was in killing his foxes. He too was 

 one of those men who rode quietly and resolutely and 

 had the art of handing his horses quietly over big 

 fences. He sat forward, just behind his horse's 

 shoulders, leaning the upper part of his body well 

 back at the fences and, with long reins, giving the 

 horse plenty of liberty at his jumps. 



In contrast to such as these are the men who are 

 always in a hurry, the reckless, hard-riding ones, 

 who seldom see the whole of a run. It is related of 

 a certain Mr. Morant, who hunted in Warwickshire 

 early in the last century, that no horse could live 

 with him in a fast run for more than fifteen minutes. 

 He was a most determined rider, but had little judg- 

 ment, and it was a matter of indifference to him 

 whether his horses cleared their fences or not so long 

 as he reached the next field. 



Of a different type from Mr. Morant was another 



