164 The Pytchley Httnt, Past and Present. 



district about Overstone,. a fox is nearly as rare an animal 

 as a wolf. Though there has been no one run of espe- 

 cial brilliancy, the general sport has been above the 

 average^ and more foxes have been honestly killed after 

 good hunting-runs than has been the case for some 

 time. 



" Badby Wood, TVelton Place, Braunston, Yanderplanks, 

 Buckby Folly ; even Harleston Heath, Loatland Wood, 

 Sulby Gorse, and Alford Thorns, have each contributed 

 a quota to the general sport, and a forty -seven minutes 

 from the first-mentioned place may perhaps be set down 

 as the best thing of the season. 



" I must not conclude these remarks without referring 

 to the heavy blow the country has received in the retire- 

 ment of the noble Master. The magnificent liberality 

 displayed by the Earl during the four years of his Master- 

 8hip_, combined with his quiet and unaggTessive conduct, 

 will long be remembered with gratitude, and I doubt if 

 the Hopetoun and Charles Payne epoch will not be 

 looked back upon in after years as forming a very palmy 

 period in the annals of the Pytchley Hunt.^' 



A-f ter giving up the country, Lord Hopetoun purchased 

 a small estate, Papillon Hall, near Lubenham, and 

 hunted for several years with Mr. Tailby and his old 

 pack which had fallen into the hands of Messrs. Yilliers 

 and Charles Cust, who shared the Mastership between 

 them for a brief period. 



In the spring of 1875 the sad news reached England 

 that Lord Hopetoun had died suddenly at Florence of a 

 virulent fever, the seeds of which had been sown at Rome 

 or Naples. So universally known had the ex-Master of 

 the " P.H.'^ become amoogst hunting'-men, that the 



