6 The Pytchley Html, Past and Present, [chap. i. 



hounds that the famous Hugo Meynell formed his pack 

 at Quornden in 1782. 



About thirty years before this, John George, Earl 

 Spencer, the first of the four Masters furnished by this 

 noble house, formed a club at the old Hall in the little 

 village of Pytchley, and removed the hounds from Althorp 

 to kennels erected at that place. Lord Spencer now 

 introduced the system of dividing the country into two, 

 and hunting the woodlands and that part of the open 

 lying east of the Northampton and Market Harbro^ road, 

 during certain months of the season ; the part lying 

 west of the dividing-line being reserved for the remain- 

 ing months. The system of not drawing any covert 

 over the allotted boundary was so rigidly adhered to, 

 that, even in the event of a kill, the hounds were always 

 taken back to the side on which the fox was found. 

 This so circumscribed the country that the same coverts 

 were being constantly disturbed, with the result that 

 blank days were of frequent occurrence ; an event un- 

 known in the present time. 



The county gentlemen and strangers who were 

 members of the Club made the old Hall their residence 

 for just as long as suited their convenience ; the apart- 

 ments, as they became vacant, being eagerly taken up 

 by candidates for the " Order of the White Collar.^^ It 

 is somewhat singular that it is uncertain to what cause 

 this badge of distinction owes its origin ; nor is any 

 allusion to it to be found in any of the records of the 

 hunt kept at Althorp. 



Lord Spencer, the founder of the Pytchley Club, died 

 in 1783; and his son, also named *^ John George," who 

 took a prominent part in politics, and became Firsfc Lord 



