MR. HENRY GREENE 211 



minutes and another of twenty-five minutes ; and on 

 the 27th the hounds ran for fifty-five minutes at a great 

 pace. On March 6, Prince George, the present Duke 

 of Cambridge, was out, while on March 21a capital run 

 from Gartree Hill came to a summary end by the hounds 

 having to stop at Stapleford Park, in which, by the 

 desire of Lord Harborough, were traps innumerable. 

 Lord Harborough, however, does not appear to have 

 been the only person who did not favour fox-hunting, 

 for the story goes that a gentleman in the county made 

 rather extensive plantations on his estate, and was 

 showing them with some pride to a man who happened 

 to have once on a time been a hunt servant. "Them's 

 no good, sir," said the old man. " How do you mean ? " 

 asked the owner of the estate. "Why, they won't hold 

 a fox ; they are too hollow," rejoined the huntsman. " I 

 did not make them to hold foxes," said the proprietor. 

 "Then what the devil did you make them for?" mur- 

 mured the old huntsman, turning away with a con- 

 temptuous smile. So even at that time fox-hunting 

 had sundry enemies. 



Towards the close of the season 1842, the Due de 

 Nemours and suite came out, and with the second fox 

 they had a run of twenty minutes, which was only just 

 fast enough to give the royal visitor a taste of Leicester- 

 shire ; and he appears to have enjoyed his run very 

 much, while accounts say that he went very well. In 

 fact, whenever a distinguished foreigner who could 

 boast of any powers of horsemanship at all came to 

 England, he was generally taken into Leicestershire, 

 just as visitors of distinction are now trotted down to 

 the Crystal Palace. A still more enjoyable royal visit, 

 however, was that paid by the Queen to Belvoir and 

 Melton Mowbray in 1843. At the entrance to the 

 latter place a handsome triumphal arch was erected, 

 covered with evergreens and hung with flags, while the 



