CHAP. II.] Frederick, Earl Spencer. 41 



meet when it was in tlie immediate neighbourhood of 

 Althorp, and for a few years kept a pack of harriers, with 

 which he hunted regularly. The sporting traditions of 

 the family w^ere adhered to with an interest which 

 almost amounted to enthusiasm in the cause of hunting, 

 and at no time were foxes more strictly preserved in the 

 Althorp district. To hear of and talk over the various 

 and varying incidents of a good day's sport, was a 

 thing in which the noble lord greatly delighted_, and 

 he held in special esteem those of his neighbours who 

 were known to go well with hounds. To him the 

 '^ Pytchley'^ are indebted for the covert so well known 

 as " Sandars Gorse.^' Believing that the picturesque 

 and popular ^^ Cank '^ had seen its best days, and was 

 losing its attraction for foxes, he established in 1853 

 a new covert in its immediate neighbourhood. This 

 he wished to call '^Balaclava/' in honour of the 

 famous charge which had recently occurred, but the 

 name never took root, and the place, after a while, 

 was known as ^' Sandars Gorse," from the excellent 

 sportsman upon whose farm it stood, and to whose 

 guardianship it was committed. Owing to the unre- 

 mitting care and attention of Mr. Henry Sandars and 

 his son, there are few coverts in the country, in which 

 a fox is more sure to be at home than this, and a hand- 

 some silver tankard, presented by gentlemen in the 

 neighbourhood, marks their appreciation of the services 

 he has rendered to the Hunt. Thouo^h no lonsrer to 

 be seen making the best of his way to the front, or 

 cramming his horse at a woolly place, years and rheuma- 

 tism are a heavier handicap than the dead weight so 

 sorely trying to horse and rider. No sooner has 



