214 HUNTING REMINISCENCES 



I were a young man I should have said it was fit ! ' 

 he said ; to which I rephed, ' Then we will hunt, to 

 fancy ourselves young again.' Amongst Gillard's 

 large correspondence is a letter from the baronet, 

 dated Aswarby Park, March 1888 : " I have had 

 a gouty cough. I know myself the cause of the 

 ailment. The liver has been allowed to get torpid 

 from not having had a gallop. Directly I can sit 

 on my cob again, the old clock will begin to tick 

 and the whole of the works will act as well as ever. 

 Thank goodness the wind has gone out of the east." 



A visit from Prince Albert "V^ictor the late Duke 

 of Clarence, who was the guest of Lord Brownlow 

 at Belton Park, causes a red letter to be affixed 

 to January 16th, when hounds met at Scrimshaw 

 JNIill. The Prince, who rode a gray horse, was 

 late in arriving at the meet, but directly hounds 

 tried the Rectory Covert they started a fox and 

 ran well in the direction of Elton, taking a ring 

 back to the starting-point. The line of country is 

 pronounced by some as hardly fit to ride, so strongly 

 is it fenced, but the Prince went gallantly. 



Hunting was stopped at the end of January, 

 owing to the death of Mrs. Willson of Rauceby 

 Hall, who had been one of the keenest followers 

 of the pack for many years, and left a large family, 

 who, by preserving foxes, furthering the interests 

 of the sport, and riding with hounds on every 

 occasion possible, deserve the gratitude of the whole 

 hunting community. 



In a day's sport during February, Gillard had 

 thirty couple of hounds to hunt the Easton Coverts. 



