ii 4 THE QUORN HUNT 



been on an uncommonly good hunter, unless he had 

 managed to pick up his second horse, as when the 

 hounds were stopped all the horses were said to have 

 had quite enough galloping, and Mr. Holyoake was 

 obliged to have his hunter bled. 



The season 1824-25 appears to have opened with 

 every promise of success. House accommodation was 

 at a premium, while sport continued to be of the best, 

 all the horses being knocked up day after day from all 

 accounts. For example, on the 23rd December 1824 

 hounds met at Owthorpe and had an extremely fast run 

 of an hour and fifteen minutes. Sir Harry Goodricke 

 had the luck to pick up his second or third horse, and 

 took the fox from the hounds. Mr. Osbaldeston and 

 Dick Burton were beaten some way from the finish, 

 while of those who rode one horse all through the run, the 

 honour lay with Lord Rancliffe, who struggled on nearly 

 to the end, Mr. Holyoake and Mr. Johnson being perhaps 

 the next best off. Just about this time Dick Burton 

 sustained one of his many serious falls ; his horse rolled 

 over him, and one of the bones of the pelvis was broken. 



Mr. Osbaldeston was styled by Colonel Lowther 

 " the moonlight hunter " and " Georgium Sidus," but 

 great as was his reputation as a horseman, he was some- 

 times beaten. There was a somewhat notorious hunter 

 named Assheton which eventually became the property 

 of Mr. Holyoake, who was too heavy for him, and could 

 not ride him ; nor for that matter could Mr. Osbaldeston ; 

 though on one occasion Assheton carried him well in a 

 run from Billesdon Coplow to Ranksborough. Dick 

 Burton, however, who could always get on with Assheton, 

 had ridden him during a hard morning's work, and it was 

 only when the edge was thus taken off him that the 

 Squire was able to shine upon him. 1 At this time, how- 



1 Ferneley, the artist, painted Mr. Osbaldeston mounted on Assheton in 

 the act of jumping a gate — in spite of his hatred of carpentry — while Sir 



