CHAP. III.] Mr. G. Osbaldeston, Master, 85 



succeeded iu possessing himself of a pack of hounds 

 second to none in England. It was with such a pack 

 as this that he commenced to hnnfc a country, about 

 which he is reported to have said, ^^ I have been in search 

 of Paradise all my life, and have found it at last/' Had 

 they only been written at that time, he might well Lave 

 quoted Whyte-Melville's lines : — 



" I will show you a country that none can surpass, 



For a flyer to cross hke a bird on the winij, 



We liave acres of woodland, and oceans of grass, 



We have ^ame in the autumn, and cubs in the spring. 

 We have scores of good fellows hang out in these shires, 



And the best of them all, are * the Pytchley Hunt Squires." 



With such tackle, and witli such escellent A.D.C.'s 

 as Jack Stevens and Jem Shirley, the ^^ Squire " was 

 bound to show sport, which he undoubtedly did do ; but 

 as Horseman or Huntsman, he at no time reached the 

 same high, standard as his predecessor, Mr. Musters. 

 His nerve had been somewhat shaken by severe falls, 

 and he always made it pretty hot for the mau who did 

 not ^WQ him plenty of room at a fence. One great 

 drawback to Mr. Osbaldeston, as either Huntsman or 

 Master, was that a natural love of gossip bad grown iuto 

 such an inveterate habit of chattering", that his tongue 

 never seemed at rest ; and even in drawing a cover he 

 would let the men do the work whilst he talked with 

 some friend. In a book of Hunting-Songs collected by 

 Mr. S. C. Musters, and published in 1883, a classified 

 list of the best performers at Melton between 1820 and 

 1830, Osbaldeston is placed third in the second class. 

 Given with all the formality of a University class list, 

 the names stand as follows : — 



