278 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



bird, to the admiration of all." Then the Misses 

 Loraine Smith, " who rode in scarlet bodices and grey 

 skirts," and Lady Eleanor Lowther, who used to be 

 piloted with the Quorn and Cottesmore by Dick 

 Christian.* I know no more thrilling touch in all 

 the famous hunting lectures than Dick's account of 

 their ride up Burrough Hill, one of the steepest of 

 the many acclivities of Leicestershire. " Near the top 

 if I didn't think she and the horse would come back- 

 wards. I says, ' Do, my lady, catch hold of the horse's 

 mane and lean forwards more,' so we gets up safe, and 

 my word the gentlemen did stare when they see us." 

 I suggest that the moral of that story is that a mane 

 on a horse is very convenient sometimes, and indeed 

 big horses should never be hogged. Then there was 

 Miss Manners of Goadby, who was sure " papa would 

 be very angry if she went home without seeing the 

 end of the run " ; and the brilliant Frenchwoman, 

 Mrs. Shakerley, who went well over Warwickshire and 

 Leicestershire on her famous chestnut horse Golden 

 Ball. But it was not till the 'seventies that ladies 

 began to take a regular part in hunting. There was 

 Mrs. Arthur of Desborough hunting with the Pytchley. 

 She had an eye like a hawk, a nerve like a lion, and 

 was always ready to lend the huntsman a hand. Mrs. 

 Arthur was one of those ladies, of whom we see many 

 nowadays, who understand hunting as well as riding, 

 and doubled her fun by taking an interest in the work- 

 ing of the hounds. A little later came those two 

 brilliant sisters, the ex-queen of Naples and the late 

 Empress of Austria. They were, as was perhaps 

 natural, most fond of the riding aspect of hunting, 

 but the story of their riding over a country has been 

 told so well by Mr. Elliott, the good sportsman who 



* " Fifty Years Fox-hunting," by T. E. Elliott. 



