In the Shires, 89 



Mrs. Stanley, the Messrs. Behrens, Major and the 

 Hon. Mrs. Whyte-Melville_, with many others are also 

 to be seen. Having a lively recollection of past com- 

 forts, I repair again to that '^ excellent inn called the 

 George Hotel. ^' 



In the morning, which was dry and fine for a change, 

 I gallop along at a rattling pace, having 12 miles to 

 go to cover, the meet being Belvoir Castle; away 

 through the pretty village of Waltham, soothed by the 

 -^olian strains of the telegraph wire which stretches 

 for miles along the roadside, disfiguring the country, 

 and producing a musical efiect which is, to say the 

 least, monotonous, if not melancholy. Turning to 

 the right, I pass through a hand gate and go at a 

 gallop over the turf across Croxton Park, and the 

 smiling village of Knipton, which adjoins the demesne 

 of Belvoir, is soon reached. 



On entering the park an extensive lake is seen, 

 studded with innumerable swans and crossed at the 

 end by a handsome stone bridge. The huntsman's 

 house and the kennels are placed close to the lake, 

 and well away from the Castle, which, standing on an 

 eminence, looks proudly down upon the beautiful vale 

 of Belvoir, with its numerous villages and conspicuous 

 churches, the spires of Grantham and Lincoln and 

 the smoke of Nottingham being visible from the 

 terrace. It is hardly possible to conceive a nobler 

 landscape, especially when looked upon from a hunt- 

 ing point of view, than that which meets the eye 

 on ascending the high ground on which the Castle 

 stands. 



The Belvoir hounds have hunted the country since 

 1750. The Dukes of Rutland have always made 



