MR. THOMAS HODGSON 191 



own, and would stand no interference from anybody. 

 On one occasion the hounds met at Kirby Gate, and 

 after drawing Cream Gorse, 



Found at Ashby Pasture. Hounds crossed over a very strong 

 country, by Kirby Gate, almost to Melton. Lord Wilton and Mr. 

 Smith both had severe falls, and Lord Gardner, upon the hounds 

 coming to a check, took upon himself the office of huntsman, and, 

 cap in hand, proceeded to cast the hounds. As Day, the profes- 

 sional huntsman, was well up, this was a little too much even for 

 Mr. Hodgson's proverbial good nature, and he very quietly 

 informed the noble peer that he could not allow any such inter- 

 ference from anybody, greatly to the gratification of a very large 

 field. Were Lord Gardner aware of his own unpopularity in 

 Leicestershire, we think he would not get into so many scrapes, 

 as nothing gives the people there more pleasure than seeing his 

 lordship in a mess. 



It was during Mr. Hodgson's mastership that, Mr. 

 Assheton Smith (who at that time hunted the Tedworth), 

 after paying a visit with his hounds to Sir Richard Sutton 

 in the Burton country, passed through the Midlands, 

 and Mr. Hodgson accorded him a meet at Rolleston, 

 where something like two thousand horsemen were 

 gathered together. The old master of the Quorn 

 accepted Mr. Hodgson's offer with the greatest delight, 

 and Friday, April 20th, was appointed, Mr. Greene's 

 house at Rolleston being the fixture. Among the large 

 field was Prince Ernest of Saxe-Coburg, brother of the 

 Prince Consort. The Leicestershire farmers at once 

 spotted his hunting-whip, which had a gold stag for a 

 handle, and which, after the buckhorns and the iron- 

 hammered whips then in vogue, could not fail to arrest 

 the attention of the spectators. 



A writer of the time says that his Serene Highness 

 took umbrage at the fact of the farmers not paying him 

 that deference to which he was accustomed in his 

 Principality of Saxe-Coburg. He therefore made some 



