Whose hours the peasant best advantages.
Henry V., Act IV. Scene 1.
LINCOLNSHIRE SWAN-MARKS
In the Museum of the Record-office is a long brown-paper roll with a double column of swans’ heads, the bills painted red and showing in black the marks of the different owners in two counties, of which Lincolnshire is one. These marks were in use in the years 1497-1504, a few being added for the year 1515.
One of the plainest to read is the name of Carolus Stanefeld de Bolyngbroke; among others are the marks of the parsons of Leek and Leverton, the vicars of Waynflete, Frekeney and Sybsa, the Bayly of Croft, the abbot of Revysbye and Philip abbas de Croyland.
CHAPTER XLII
LINCOLNSHIRE FOX-HOUNDS
BY E. P. RAWNSLEY, ESQ., M.F.H.
Brocklesby—Burton—Blankney and Southwold—Note by Author.
THE BROCKLESBY
Except the fen country and a small corner in the extreme north-west, the whole of Lincolnshire is hunted by fox-hounds. Four packs, namely, the Brocklesby (Lord Yarborough’s), the Burton, Blankney and Southwold hunt entirely in Lincolnshire; while the Belvoir and Cottesmore hunt partly in Lincolnshire. Premier position must be given to the Brocklesby. It is one of the very few packs maintained entirely by the master, and for over 150 years the Earls of Yarborough have done this for the benefit of the residents and farmers in the large tract of country they hunt over. The country hunted extends from the Humber on the north to a line drawn from Louth to Market-Rasen on the south, and from the sea on the east to the river Ancholme on the west. The country is mostly wold, and consequently plough, but very open, the only big woods being those that surround Brocklesby itself. The hounds having been so long in one family are of the best, and there are few kennels in England but have a large infusion of the Brocklesby blood, famous for nose, tongue, and stoutness. For upwards of 100 years the family of Smith carried the horn and did much to establish the notoriety of the pack, while in more recent years Will Dale, a great huntsman and houndman, and Jem Smith, no relation of the former huntsman, have kept it up. Possibly sport in the country was never better than when W. Dale and Mr. Maunsell-Richardson each hunted one pack; when one was hunting the other was always out to render assistance, and as both knew the country perfectly, the result was more good runs and more foxes caught at the end of them than was ever done in the country before or since.