MELTON MOWBRAY 17 



lamp was suspended over each stall ; a round table was 

 wheeled in after dinner, and to the stable the host, and 

 any one he might have dining with him, used to retreat 

 after dinner, and while sipping their wine would see the 

 horses bedded up for the night. 



Every stranger who went on a visit to Melton was 

 accustomed to come away full of admiration at the condi- 

 tion and appearance of the horses he saw, though this 

 was possibly nothing more than a natural sequence of 

 the surroundings. In the first place, the horses were of 

 the best ; the grooms were supposed to be of the true 

 Mr. Tip-top type ; and the studs being large, no horse 

 was overworked. Lord Plymouth had once six-and- 

 twenty horses in his stable, and he bought another at 

 500 guineas in case he might want it later on ; while 

 from a dozen to twenty was no uncommon number ; but 

 most of the Melton men of that day are said to have 

 been ready to buy a likely horse whether they wanted 

 one or not. Prom all accounts there was great rivalry 

 among the helpers and stud-grooms as to the appearance 

 of the horses, which must have been at any rate a good 

 thing for the owners, as it necessarily saved them much 

 fault-finding. The stud-groom of the period, however, 

 was a bit of a tyrant. Sir James Musgrave had a 

 very good, if somewhat jealous, head man, and it was 

 Sir James's custom to have his horses summered at his 

 country house, where he kept them until the eve of the 

 hunting season, when they were sent to the Melton 

 stables. A few weeks before they were sent to Leices- 

 tershire the stud-groom, who had up to that time been 

 feeding the horses on oats, told Sir James that the time 

 had arrived when he must give them some beans as well. 

 For some reason or other, Sir James Musgrave objected, 

 whereupon the stud-groom told the baronet that he (the 

 groom) must either buy beans out of his own pocket or 

 else "decline his service." The groom carried his point, 



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