Major Whyte Melville. 26 



J 



" coffee-house department." By him nothing going on 

 in the world, social or political, was unknown ; nor did 

 he think it a friendly or necessary act to keep his 

 knowledge to himself. For some time in command of a 

 distinguished cavalry regiment, he worked unremittingly 

 and successfully to maintain its reputation for smartness, 

 and under him the sloven soon learnt that it had become 

 incumbent upon him to change his ways. Upon leaving 

 the service the gallant Colonel changed his sword into 

 a hunting-crop ; and settling down in one of the best 

 hunting-districts in England with one to whom " the 

 pleasures of the chase " were as great as to himself, they 

 together shared all the enjoyments of ^^ a life in the 

 Midlands.'' 



That the familiar form of the kindly old Officer should 

 no longer be seen at the cover-side, mounted as of yore, 

 is a matter of no little regret to those who miss each 

 dropped link of the chain uniting the present with the 

 past ; and the figure of the gallant occupant of Misterton 

 and Desborough Halls must ever be connected with 

 recollections of the pleasant Tailby and Pytchley Meets, 

 when a neat-looking horse instead of a well-appointed 

 trap was his mode of conveyance. 



MAJOR WHYTE MELVILLE. 

 On the long list of those who have been members of the 

 Pytchley Hunt, no name stands out in bolder relief than 

 that of ^^ George Whyte Melville,^' soldier, novelist, poet, 

 and sportsman by birth and natural instincts. Son of a 

 M.F.H., himself an " Admirable Crichton " in all things 

 pertaining to sport, hunting came as naturally to the 



