2i6 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



would serve to kill him by." Mr. Stubbs and the 

 trotting fox-hunter of Lincolnshire had, and still 

 have, their disciples, and when we recollect that 

 there are many days when hounds do not travel 

 very fast in pursuit of their fox, such riders, if they 

 have Mr. Stubbs' eye for a country, will see a fair 

 amount of sport in the course of the season. 



Both the above methods require, however, a very 

 strict attention to business. Neither class of rider 

 can afford to be left far behind or he will miss the 

 chances that might have been his, and after the 

 meet will seldom see a hound at all. 



There is yet one other description of rider to 

 hounds, of whom the type can be found among the 

 riders of the past, the men who hunt with small means 

 and an indifferent steed. The most remarkable of 

 these was a certain Mr. Carrington, once a subaltern 

 in the 15th Hussars, who had but ;^300 a year and 

 hunted from Melton about the year 1825. Mr. Car- 

 rington kept four hunters and a hack. He was not 

 a coper, for he rode low-priced light-weight horses 

 and is said to have made very little by their sale. 

 The way he economised was by being his own stable- 

 man. " He has but one man in the stable, actually 

 performing the duties of a groom himself, and is 

 seen at exercise with his horses, as grooms or their 

 helpers are wont to be, and he also actually performs 

 his part of the necessary duties of the stable." I 

 am sorry to say that the Meltonians expressed ad- 

 miration, but did not ask him to their houses. " When 

 I used to go to Lord Waterford," said Mr. Carrington, 

 " to know about hunting, I went to the back door ; " 

 and Mr. Carrington was a good deal touched by the 

 condescension of Lord Gardner, who actually asked 

 him to take wine with him. So far, I think we have 



