CHAPTER I 



THE QUORN COUNTRY: ITS HOUNDS 

 AND KENNELS 



THE boundaries of hunting countries are ever 

 changing, and hunting geography is exceedingly 

 difficult to learn thoroughly, as the old Boodle's Com- 

 mittee and the present Masters of Foxhounds' Associa- 

 tion could tell us. If we take in hand the first edition 

 of Hobson's " Fox-hunting Atlas," we can now hardly 

 recognise the face of England, so many are the new 

 names and new boundaries. 



The Quorn country has had its fair share of changes, 

 which it is the aim of this chapter to point out. One 

 hardly knows over what extent of country Mr. Boothby 

 roamed, but his limits were probably wider than those 

 of Mr. Meynell, who hunted from Clifton Gardens, near 

 Nottingham, to Market Harborouo;h, even if he did eo 

 a little wider. He had at his command what are now 

 the Quorn, Mr. Fernie's, and a portion of the Atherstone 

 countries, besides other slips of ground which have since 

 been absorbed into other hunts. In Mr. Meynell's time, 

 however, a greater extent of country than at present was 

 needed. There were not nearly so many foxes in the 

 country as there now are, and Mr. Meynell, like the 

 Earls of Berkeley, the Dukes of Beaufort, and other 

 masters, was probably accustomed to visit distant parts 

 of his territory at intervals, for the number of square 

 miles which now suffice for two days a week would not in 



