MR. J. COUPLAND 325 



of a slow hunting run Lady Ida Hope's horse fell at a 

 fence. On the same day Lord Grey de Wilton's horse 

 was caught in a sheep net, and falling heavily rolled two 

 or three times over his rider, hurting him so much that 

 at one time it was supposed the injury would prove fatal. 

 However, the hurt turned out, fortunately, to be not so 

 bad as was at first imagined ; but the muscles of one 

 shoulder were very much lacerated, and he was kept out 

 of the saddle for some time. 



The season 1872-73 opened as usual at Kirby Gate, 

 but as a matter of fact there was no Kirby Gate, for the 

 day for abolishing the time-honoured toll-bar came on 

 the date on which the Quorn were to meet there. On 

 November 1 the Turnpike Trust, with which it had its 

 being, breathed its last, and from that time to the 

 present Kirby Gate has really had no local habitation, 

 though of course its name survives. 



In connection with the now popular amusement of 

 hunting on wheels, some of the inhabitants of Leices- 

 ter set forth early in January 1873 to see what sport 

 they could from a wagonette, and drove to Charnwood 

 Forest, prepared to take part in a sort of picnic, judging 

 from the hampers and boxes with which all the spare 

 room was occupied. The driver was one who knew 

 every inch of the country, and had promised to drive 

 from point to point so that his passengers should see 

 almost as much of the run as those who were on horse- 

 back. In order to be as good as his word, he at one 

 point left the hard high-road for a green lane, and had 

 the vehicle been in good condition all might have gone 

 well. The party, however, was a heavy one, while the 

 road was not too good ; and so, before they had gone 

 very far the vehicle parted in the middle, the horse and 

 the fore wheels trotting on, while the hind wheels and 

 the party remained behind, the passengers, it need hardly 

 be said, being pitched into the mud. The horse, like 



