MR. J. COUPLAND 351 



which bore his name ; while all the Baggrave coverts 

 were regarded as sure finds, and had over and over again 

 been the starting-points of good gallops. It was to the 

 Baggrave coverts that most masters returned if sport 

 failed elsewhere. General Burnaby, however, never did 

 things by halves, and when his Parliamentary duties 

 became absorbing Baggrave saw but little of him ; while 

 his coverts were not so well tended in his absence as 

 they had been when he was there to look after them. It 

 was a somewhat curious coincidence that the general, 

 who was such a strong partisan of the Quorn Hunt, was 

 one of the most enthusiastic in voting for the severance 

 of the Billesdon side from the parent country. This by 

 no means suggests that he was wrong, but it is curious 

 that such a staunch friend of the Quorn should have 

 been in favour of the country being cut in two. In his 

 younger days the general rode well to hounds, while 

 there was no more hospitable house in the country than 

 Baggrave Hall. 



Mention, by the way, of the Prince of Wales' Gorse 

 reminds one that after General Burnaby's death, Mr. 

 Trew, who rented Baggrave, offered to replant the gorse, 

 which had failed, at his own cost. The guardians of 

 the Baggrave property were naturally extremely grateful 

 to Mr. Trew for his generous offer, but knowing the 

 interest that the late General Burnaby had always taken 

 in that covert, thought that the whole recuperation should 

 be undertaken by the estate in as efficient a manner as 

 possible, the trustees being quite sure that they would 

 be acting in accordance with what would have been the 

 wishes of the late occupant ; and it is needless to say 

 that both the master and the members of the Hunt 

 thanked Mr. Trew very heartily for his most sporting 

 offer. 



If the end of the year 1883 and the first few clays of 

 1884 were not marked by the very best of luck, ample 



