io 4 THE QUORN HUNT 



everybody, and there were certainly two opinions about 

 his character as a huntsman — 



Who is the trumpeter blowing his horn ? 

 That is the trumpeter coming from Quorn, 

 The very worst huntsman that ever was born, 



are lines which were applied to Mr. Osbaldeston as a 

 huntsman, while Mr. Grantley Berkeley in his published 

 works refers to the Squire * in anything but compli- 

 mentary terms. In the year 1865, long of course after 

 Mr. Osbaldeston had given up hunting, there appeared 

 in print a review of a book of Mr. Grantley Berkeley's 

 and also a letter in which reflections were cast upon his 

 system, and to these Mr. Osbaldeston replied in the 

 following words : — 



Now, sir, I hunted the Burton country in Lincolnshire ; the 

 Spilsbyin Lincolnshire; Mr. Musters's in Nottinghamshire; Lord 

 Vernon's in Derbyshire ; the Atherstone ; the Holderness in 

 Yorkshire; the Suffolk, the Quorn, the Pytchley and Hampshire, 

 a period of more than thirty-five years ; and, during that long 

 career, I never heard any complaints conveyed through any of 

 my friends, and I hunted the hounds myself and bred them 

 myself. When 1 left the Burton country I was presented with 

 a large silver waiter, the handles being in imitation of two foxes' 

 heads, with an inscription expressive of their approbation of my 

 hunting the country ; and when I left the Pytchley I received a 

 beautiful snuff-box from the Hunt with the following inscription : 

 "To the best sportsman of any age or country." 



Mr. Osbaldeston was saved the trouble of finding a 

 fresh pack of hounds when he took the Quorn country, 

 as he brought his own with him from the Atherstone, 

 and they quickly took the eye of the Quorn men. A 

 good many people had complimentary things to say of 



1 Mr. Osbaldeston was called the Squire because he was the only com- 

 moner who then hunted a pack of hounds in Leicestershire, and he was 

 very proud of the title. 



