"THE COTTESMORE IN 1826." 9 



Cottesmore hounds at say Woodwell Head or 

 Little Dalby under the old regime, Anno Domini 

 1826, or about that remote period. 



At either of the aforesaid places you would have 

 seen the elite of Melton, the Melton men as they 

 were and are still called. You would have seen 

 the pick of England, amongst whom were such 

 men as Lord Clanwilliam, John Moore, Sir Jas. 

 Musgrave, Sir Francis Burdett, Gilmore, Val Marr, 

 Lord Chesterfield, Frank Forester, Lord Wilton, 

 Maxse, Horatio Ross, Lord Kennedy, Charlie 

 Wyndham, Otway Cave, and Lord Alvanley, who, 

 in his way, was rather a character, as for many 

 years he wore the most monstrous pair of boots 

 that perhaps ever were seen on any man's legs. 

 When first I remember him he wore ordinary top 

 boots ; but, to the wonder and admiration of all 

 beholders, he appeared one day clad in a pair of 

 boots with the tops standing high above his knees, 

 and much in the form of the old Life Guards' boots 

 with the corners rounded off. It was always 

 supposed by many that it was an invention of his 

 own ; but this was not so, as he took the hint from 

 one boot that the Father of the present Duke of 

 Rutland had had made, and which he wore on his 



