30 THE QUORN HUNT 



shire. Several couples were also obtained from other 

 good kennels, so that Lord Stamford found himself in 

 possession of a really good lot of hounds, and on his 

 resignation he sold the pack to his successor, Mr. 

 Clowes, who after a three years' rule retired and offered 

 his kennel for sale. To the surprise of all, it was dis- 

 covered that the Marquis of Hastings had purchased 

 about half the pack, and he after two years of failure 

 held a sale, the fourth within thirteen years. Mr. 

 Musters, who came from South Notts in succession to 

 the marquis, brought his own hounds with him into 

 Leicestershire, and took them home again after an 

 attempt at a partnership with Mr. Coupland had failed ; 

 so the latter gentleman, having to cast about for a pack, 

 selected the Craven, which were then in the market, 

 owing to the resignation of Mr. G. S. Willes. And these 

 hounds, although they were subsequently more than 

 decimated by dumb madness, are the ancestors of the 

 present pack, which have done so well at Peterborough 

 and in the field ; and, in the interests of an historic hunt, 

 it is to be hoped that the day is far distant when any 

 future master of the Quorn may have to get together 

 a scratch pack, a strait to which former masters have 

 been reduced. Such a contingency, however, is scarcely 

 possible, as some years ago Lord Wilton, Mr. Behrens, 

 and the Duke of Portland (who for some seasons hunted 

 from Melton) purchased the Ouorn hounds, so as to 

 secure them to the country. On the death of Lord 

 Wilton his share was purchased by the Hon. Montague 

 Curzon, of Beaumanor. The Duke of Portland, on 

 giving up hunting in Leicestershire, liberally presented 

 his third share to the hunt, while the members thereof 

 purchased the one-third share of Mr. Behrens's executors 

 when that gentleman died, so that at the present time 

 two out of the three shares belong to the hunt. 



Considerations of space preclude any detailed history 



