156 THE QUORN HUNT 



said to be twenty-two miles, and George Mountford, the 

 huntsman, came in for great kudos for the manner in 

 which he handled his hounds during what must have 

 been a tolerably fast run ; for Lady Wilton, riding a 

 thoroughbred horse, could get no further than within 

 two miles of Buckminster Park, and the only members of 

 the field up at the finish were Mr. Holyoake Goodricke, 

 Lord Kinnaird, Lord Wilton, and Lord Macdonald — all 

 Meltonians ; the last-named was riding his favourite grey 

 Peruvian, whose turn generally came when a run longer 

 than usual was brought off. 



During Mr. Holyoake's mastership — I ought perhaps 

 to call him Mr. Holyoake Goodricke — the Quorn Hunt 

 lost a good sportsman in Mr. James Ellar, of Wymes- 

 wold, who, beginning his hunting career in the days of 

 Mr. Meynell, strenuously preserved foxes and bred good 

 hunters up to the day of his death, which occurred in 

 August 1834, while his hospitality was extended to every 

 hunting man whose road home lay by his house. Mr. 

 Ellar was apparently very fortunate in his horse-breeding 

 experience. Some of the best of the Quorn stud came 

 from his stable ; Mr. Delme Radcliffe bought one or two 

 for George IV., while he generally sold one a year for a 

 large sum to Lord Clanwilliam. As a raconteur of the 

 chase he was unrivalled, his wonderful memory enabling 

 him to recall every famous run and every man, horse, 

 and hound which figured in them. When he first beean 

 to hunt there was scarcely a fence or drain in Leicester- 

 shire ; and on one occasion he remarked to Lord Robert 

 Grosvenor, in the course of a gallop, "My lord, you and 

 I were both in the long run from this spot forty-eight 

 years ago, when we had seven horses stone blind." In 

 a very famous run of five hours and a quarter, for so long 

 talked about, he was one of the three survivors. In 

 Mr. Ellar's early days "blooding" the youngsters was a 

 recognised custom, on the glories of which he would 



