SIR HARRY GOODRICKE 151 



found in the extent to which Melton was at this time 

 (^S) patronised. A contributor to the Leicester 

 Journal took the trouble to make the round of the 

 Melton stables, and found that no fewer than 450 horses 

 were quartered in the district. Sir Harry Goodricke 

 headed the list with 52 ; then came Lord Forester 38, 

 Lord Thynne 26, Lord Wilton 24, Mr. Stanley 18, 

 Lord Gardner 17, Lord Kinnaird and Mr. Etherington 

 16 each, Sir F. Johnston and Mr. Stephens 14 apiece, 

 and there were several owners of smaller studs. 



On one day on which there was but little scent, 

 hounds found a fox but soon came to a check. One 

 of the whippers-in, however, viewed him a field or two 

 ahead, and cap in hand holloaed on the hounds, riding 

 on meantime in the fox's wake. The hounds, however, 

 were a long time in coming on. The sight of the gallop- 

 ing whipper-in was quite sufficient to cause the field to 

 begin to gallop too, and on they came, some before the 

 hounds and some after them. In this fashion they went 

 for about a mile, and then Will Derry, who was carrying 

 the horn in the absence of Mountford, who was laid up, 

 arrived with the hounds, giving some hearty curses to 

 the men who had ridden on in advance of the pack ; 

 whereupon Lord Alvanley is reported to have exclaimed, 

 "Curse these infernal hounds! they always spoil sport ; 

 what a capital hunt we should have had if it had not 

 been for them." A historian of the time wrote that he 

 saw the members of the Quorn field after a run, and 

 that it would have puzzled a stranger to know the colour 

 of their coats, they were so completely bedaubed from 

 the number of falls; "but," continues the writer, "I 

 never saw fellows mind them so little." 



That Sir Harry Goodricke did not mind riding a 

 rough horse, the following anecdote proves : — 



" A friend of mine was standing one day in the yard 

 at Melton when Sir Harry's horse came in with his 



