260 THE QUORN HUNT 



their time played a prominent part in the history of the 

 chase — within a twelvemonth the fifth Earl of Jersey 

 and the Marquis of Waterford joined the great majority. 

 Mention has already been made of Lord Jersey, who 

 was a notability both in the hunting field and on the 

 turf. Time had been when the Marquis of Waterford 

 was as well known at Melton as any one who ever made 

 the place his hunting headquarters. Clothed in his blue 

 jacket and black cap, and mounted on Yellow Dwarf, he 

 was a prominent figure at the first few steeplechases held 

 in the vale of Aylesbury. According to all accounts he 

 rode "anyhow," and except there was some indication 

 of the line to be taken, his idea of steeplechase riding 

 appeared to be to jump over as many fences as possible. 

 Once, when he was riding in a steeplechase at Dunchurch 

 against Dick Christian, he went so wide at a turning-flag 

 to get a run at a tempting-looking fence that Dick called 

 out, "My lord! where are you going to?" He was 

 then riding Columbine. How he put the Melton toll- 

 bar into the not altogether appropriate scarlet, how he 

 aniseeded the heels of a clergyman's horse and then 

 hunted him home with bloodhounds, are stories which 

 have been told over and over again. Then, in con- 

 sequence of a practical joke on a Norwegian peasant- 

 girl, the marquis was so much knocked about by the 

 Norwegian watchmen that he had to wear a wig for 

 some time, and in a fast run with the Ouorn from Bur- 

 rough Hill he lost this same headpiece. The marquis 

 was a great ally of deaf Burke, by whom he was taught 

 boxing. He won three four-mile steeplechases in one 

 day at Eglinton Park, entered heart and soul into the 

 tournament, and did many other things which amused 

 England at the time. For the last seventeen years or 

 so of his life he lived at home in Ireland, where he kept 

 the Curraghmore hounds, which were a capital hunting- 

 pack, if not very much to look at. He and his men, 



