4 THE QUORN HUNT 



the last century have found sport for one day in a fort- 

 night or three weeks ; moreover, vulpecide was possibly 

 more common then than it now is. In reading the 

 accounts of the different runs, however, it is necessary to 

 remember that the country was far more open than it is 

 at present, and except for an occasional boundary fence, 

 hounds mieht run for miles without meeting with much 

 to stop them. 



There is no necessity to discuss at length the pre- 

 cise boundaries of the Ouorn Hunt in the days of Mr. 

 Boothby and Mr. Meynell ; it will suffice to say that the 

 famous hunt in question was shorn of some of its country 

 towards the latter end of the reign of Mr. Assheton 

 Smith (1806-17), when in or about the year 18 14 Mr. 

 Osbaldeston brought his hounds from Nottinghamshire 

 and first made the Atherstone a separate hunt. Portions 

 of the country had, it is true, been hunted by other 

 masters ; but with the advent of the Squire the Quorn 

 country was deprived of part of its ground. There was 

 then no change, at least no material change, until the 

 year 1834, when Mr. Holyoake was getting near to 

 the end of his two years' mastership. Then it was that 

 the second Marquis of Hastings, a right good sports- 

 man, who kept a smart pack of harriers, being desirous 

 of having more hunting nearer home, induced Mr. 

 Holyoake to cede to him a portion of his country on 

 the Donington side, and building kennels at his resi- 

 dence, appointed Will Head as his huntsman, his 

 whippers - in being William Markwell and Edward 

 Evans. 



The Donington country, as it was called, took in 

 some of the forest, and stretched away into Derbyshire, 

 and, as the Marquis of Hastings announced his intention 

 of hunting three days a week, there was every chance 

 of those who lived at a distance from the centre of the 

 Ouorn country enjoying an increased amount of sport, 



