EARL OF STAMFORD 259 



hard as he could race to Grace Dieu, and after running by Belton 

 village the fox was headed, and so ran along the brook for about 

 a mile, over the road as if for Breedon Clouds, and then to the 

 right as if for Donington Park, which place he reached after 

 several turns. The time to that point was an hour and twenty 

 minutes. There had been no previous check, but one occurred 

 then. Presently Treadwell hit off the line, and eventually the 

 hounds ran into their fox in Mr. Storey's stack-yard at Lockington 

 village, after a hunt of two hours and twenty minutes from the 

 start. Then on the 30th December the hounds met at Doning- 

 ton Park. Among those out were Lord Stanhope, Mr. Storey, 

 Mr. Phillips, and Lord Stamford. The last-named is especially 

 mentioned because it would appear that he was very seldom seen 

 in the hunting field about this period, which is rather curious, 

 seeing that he had been master of hounds before, and hunted the 

 country at his own cost, save for the covert fund. On this 

 occasion hounds ran for upwards of two hours and a half. Lord 

 Stamford did not see the finish of the run, for he rode his third 

 horse to a standstill in Robin Wood. At the invitation of Lord 

 Stanhope, Treadwell, the whippers-in, and the hounds remained 

 for the night at Bretby. 



The records of the season 1858-59 were that with 71 

 couples of hounds Lord Stamford hunted 136 days (no 

 blank days), killed 15 brace of cubs, 23! brace of foxes, 

 and ran 2,7 brace to ground. 



Almost from the very first there appears to have 

 been a kind of misunderstanding between Lord Stamford 

 and some people in the country, and during the season 

 1858-59 there was a rumour, which certainly appears to 

 have been to a certain extent well founded, that Lord 

 Stamford would give up the country ; then he agreed to 

 continue in office, and so the country's mind was set at 

 ease again. Another rumour was that the Old Club, 

 which had been unoccupied for a short time, would be 

 taken by Sir George Wombwell and some of his friends, 

 an arrangement which does not appear to have been 

 carried out. 



The year 1859 saw the death of two men who in 



