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HUNTING AM) S1H)IITING 
 
 NOTES 
 
 IN 
 
 SHROPSHIRE AND CHESHIRE, 
 
 SEASON 1884-85. 
 
 CO^'TAIXIXa ACCOUNTS OF 
 
 RUNS WITH SIR WATKIN WILLIAMS WVNN'S, THE SOUTH CHESHIRE, 
 
 SHKOPSIIlliE, ALBRIGHTON, LUDLOW. SOUTH HEREFORD, 
 
 RADNORSHIRE AND WEST HEREFORD, 
 
 AS WELL AS A WEEK IN YORKSHIRE ; 
 
 RY 
 
 ''BORDERER." 
 
 AVITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 By H. F. MYTTON. 
 
 "On your iavoniitc's back 
 
 May you follow the pack, 
 Like a bird throug-h the air may you fly ! 
 
 And may every steed. 
 
 That you purchase or breed. 
 Be the best that money can buy.'" — Clarke Krnnrdy. 
 
 1 S8r). 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 A. IT. Baily & Co., l."). Nicholas Lane, E.C. 
 
 SHEEWSBUEY : 
 
 Eddowes's Shrewsbury Journal" Office, 7, The Square. 
 
INDEX TO JLLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Mr. A. P. Heywood-Loiisdalc 
 
 Atcham Bridge 
 
 A Watery Episode — The Tern 
 
 Sir Watkin 
 
 The Meet at Berwick 
 
 A Cheshire Start ... 
 
 The Losford Brook ... 
 
 Who shot the fox / 
 
 A Collision 
 
 Mr. Reginald Corbet 
 
 Sir Thomas Boughey, Bart ... 
 
 Habitues 
 
 Mr. C. W. Wicksted 
 
 "Good Ones" 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 Opposite page 7 
 19 
 23 
 41 
 57 
 60 
 64 
 64 
 82 
 
 92 
 
 97 
 106 
 
HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES 
 
 IN 
 
 SHROPSHIRE AND CHESHIRE. 
 
 SEASON 1884-85. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Mr. Bromley Davenport says with great truth, '' Per- 
 haps no greater anomaly, no more palpable anachronism, 
 exists in England than Foxhunting. Yet it has been 
 called, and is, the National Sport." 
 
 In spite of the march of improvement — high farming, 
 — the intersection of the country by roads and railways 
 — the straightening of fences — the multiplication of 
 dwellings — the democratising of the world — the over 
 preservation of game — the sneers of overburdened in- 
 tellects — and last, though not least, the hard times through 
 which we are passing — hunting wavers not, halts not, 
 ceases not. As one season succeeds another, its votaries 
 are on the increase, its health giving, invigorating, and 
 manly unselfiish influences are more and more apprecia- 
 ted, and it proudly maintains its title to be " The Sport 
 of Kings and people." If one typical character, more 
 than another, that all sportsmen are so fond of quoting, 
 
shows the HberaUty of hunting, (if I may so express it), 
 it is "Old Jorrocks." His character shows us how a 
 tallow chandler and good sportsman can be combined, 
 and how the essence of vulgarity even is capable of 
 establishing itself in our estimation. Merely because the 
 sporting instinct was nurtured, grew, and triumphed in 
 the same personation, and set its mark on him, so un- 
 mistakeably that to aristocrat and democrat alike he was 
 a sportsman first, and a fine old cad afterwards ; stand- 
 ing up bravely and consistently for his pink cloth, and 
 shaming all those who were half-hearted or unreal in 
 their sporting tastes. 
 
 It is because I believe hunting to hold the first place 
 in the affections of the many in the district where oay 
 lot is now cast that I have ventured to republish, in the 
 form of a diary, my notes on the past hunting season. 
 We cannot burnish any baser metal to the brightness of 
 gold, nor can I make the doings of our chronicle, rub them 
 up as industriously as possible, shine so brightly as I 
 would. The truth must be told that the season of 
 1884-85 has been a disappointing one, from causes many, 
 and not far to seek. 
 
 First of all it followed the best on record. 
 
 Secondly : It opened with an exceptionally dry 
 Autumn, and this want of moisture has more or less 
 been maintained throughout. 
 
 Thirdly : Scent, (consequent chiefly on the first two 
 reasons,) has been unprecedently bad and uncertain, 
 except on the grass. 
 
 Fourthly : The foxes have run short. Gone to ground 
 almost invariably, and, in some parts, have been 
 decidedly scarce. 
 
 This last reason I attribute to three causes. More 
 old foxes were killed last season than usual, and, conse- 
 quently, old dog foxes were not so numerous as they 
 should have been at the opening of the season. Then 
 cubs were; more plentiful than usual, and have run 
 
unusually short and badl}^ and, lastly, the dry weather 
 had induced them to go more to ground than before. 
 Every drain in the country has been inhabited by them, 
 and the present battue shooting arrangements so 
 bamboozle them, in addition to the heading and 
 badgering of cubhunting, that, in addition to lying under- 
 ground, they have laid out in the open more than I 
 ever knew them in any previous season. 
 
 Do not be discouraged, my hunting friends, at this long 
 list of predisposing causes for our many and various 
 disappointments this season. Remember that none of 
 them are chronic. Next Autumn we may have a greater 
 average rainfall. More old foxes to start on, because 
 less have been killed. Better scent, and fewer cubs 
 badgered to death in our best coverts without being 
 afforded a chance of escape in the open. We shall 
 have the chance of preventing the continual *' gone to 
 ground" business, to which we have been treated this 
 year, by our stopping up, daring the summer, tlie drains 
 and holes, which we now know are frequented by 
 outlying foxes. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that these notes 
 contain nothing but one long growl of disappointment, 
 for in truth scarce a week throughout the season has 
 passed without one little glimpse of sunshine in the 
 shape of sport reaching me, and being delightedly noted 
 down. In fact it is astonishing how persistently this 
 has been the case, except, perhaps, when that tryingly 
 intermittent frost put in its oar at Christmas, and 
 robbed the schoolboys and holiday-makers of their 
 accustomed jollities. 
 
 It must be universally acknowledged that Mr. 
 Eeginald Corbet, in South Cheshire, has carried 
 off the palm for sport. On the grass his hounds have 
 run fast — dav after day. His small coverts enable him 
 to get away on the back of his fox, and his hounds are a 
 marvel of quickness as well as deathliness. His runs have 
 been for the most part rings, although there have been 
 
IV 
 
 brilliant exceptions, and his great hard-riding field have 
 been wonderfully entertained and kept in order. Borderer 
 has been unable to do justice to many of their best days. 
 Two things are lacking to him for the enjoyment of South 
 Cheshire — first rate horseflesh, and more unemployed 
 leisure. He still lives in hope. 
 
 Sir Watkin Williams Wynn has without a doubt had a 
 better season than last year. Has killed more foxes, 
 and had some straightaway runs with blood at the end 
 of them. Last year Goodall was fresh to the country, 
 and I hardly saw him catch a fox in the Whitchurch 
 country. This year he has killed many, some of them, 
 no doubt, bad ones, and has chopped too many to please 
 me ; still it is but justice to him to say that he has had 
 more that an average season, and he will take with him, 
 into whatever country he goes, the credit for being a 
 determined horseman and a keen sportsman. "Not quite 
 the man to have followed Payne or Walker, 
 undoubtedly, and, while I write, all hunting ears in the 
 West Midlands are on the qui vive to catch the name of 
 his probable successor, for where is the hunting-man 
 who does not pray for the Wynnstay kennel prestige to 
 be kept up ? and to see a first-rate huntsman installed 
 in that princely establishment ? 
 
 The Albrighton have had to contend with greater 
 difficulties perhaps this year than any other Shropshire 
 pack, on account of the dry weather acting unfavourably 
 on their light ploughs, and yet they have, gained a 
 creditable verdict at my hands. Perhaps I have 
 been lucky in seeing them in their best scenting 
 country, still I fancy their record of foxes will 
 prove a good one. As a pack of hounds they are 
 beautiful, especially the bitch pack. So much music, 
 drive, and hunt, I have seen nowhere else except it be in 
 the Ludlow. Sir Thomas Boughey goes on for another 
 three years, greatly to the delight of all. He has the 
 true sport at heart, has studied the business, and backed 
 up by such a thorough sportswoman as Lady Boughey, 
 
has mastered it; how seldom can this be said of M.F.H.'s? 
 Hehas done wisely too in making Captain Boycott 
 Wight his deputy-master on the Worcestershire side, 
 who, now that he has gone to live at Kudge, is as 
 excellently placed in that country as Aqualate is badly 
 so for Sir Thomas to reach it. I trust that Scott and 
 his whips will continue as servants, for no set of men 
 that I have seen this season work better together, and are 
 keener to show sport than they are. 
 
 The Shropshire ought perhaps to have taken 
 precedence of the Albrighton in my remarks, as being 
 the central county pack, yet I believe the Albrighton are 
 of about equal date in point of institution with the 
 Shropshire, as Nimrod gives an account of them in his 
 Shropshire tour, when, under the mastership of Mr. 
 Boycott, of Eudge, no doubt an ancester of Captain 
 Boycott Wight's, they hunted at Chillington and 
 Apley, at the same time that Sir Bellingham Graham 
 took the Shropshire. 
 
 The life of the Shropshire has fallen on pleasant paths 
 inasmuch as no pecuniary diliiculties trouble them ; no 
 insufficiency of staff; no lack of horseflesh; no half- 
 hunting their country, has to be complained of. Lord 
 Hill's successor was hard to find, as I have said in my 
 notes, but he has been found, and Mr. Hey wood Lonsdale 
 has inaugurated his first season in a style that bids fair 
 to win him a name and fame as an M.F.H., and to 
 enrol him among the long list of Shropshire! worthies. 
 
 o expense is spared to make every appointment up to 
 mark — just as it should be, without bunkum or show. 
 The Shropshire hounds, thanks to Lord Hill, ably aided 
 by Thatcher, are, without the slightest shadow^ of a doubt, 
 a beautiful pack. Such symmetry, dash, and tongue, com- 
 bined with handiness. Borderer has seldom seen 
 equalled, and on the flags, he thinks Shropshire can 
 show three packs of hounds that any county in England 
 would be proud of, and these are the Shropshire, the 
 Albrighton, and the Ludlow. 
 
VI 
 
 Thatcher may have his detractors, and I know I have 
 more than once been hard on hhn — not however, so much 
 as a detractor as a critic . His good points midoiibtedly out- 
 weigh his weak ones, and although it is not always wdse 
 in the critic to professedly array himself on one side or 
 the other, I may admit that I think Thatcher is an 
 excellent man, and that Mr. Lonsdale has done wisely 
 in retaining his services. In the kennel he has few 
 superiors. In the field he has the love and confidence 
 of his hounds, and his casts are quick, clever, and gener- 
 ally succesful. He can ride to his hounds anywhere, 
 when his mount suits him, and he thoroughly knows 
 his business. More than this, he his a most pleasant, 
 good tempered man in the field, which is saying more 
 than I can for the generality of huntsmen. There 
 does not seem much loophole here for fault-finding, and 
 my readers must judge for themselves, w^hether I have 
 erred or not in my estimate of our Shropshire huntsman. 
 His first whip, Will Beavan, is a capital servant — a fine 
 horseman, quick, quiet, and, keen. Much to the regret 
 of all he, leaves, to benefit himself however, as he takes, 
 I believe, the horn in South Staffordshire next season. 
 Borderer wishes him well, and will watch his career 
 with interest. The second whip also, gets a lifb, and is 
 going to Lord Middleton. New servants are always a 
 drawback to a hunt, but it is a feathe,r in a huntsman's 
 cap to have promotion awarded to his whips. 
 
 Of sport this season with the Shropshire, I wish I 
 could speak wuth higher encomiums. ' Compared wdth 
 last year it has been moderate ; compared with other 
 packs it has been average. There have been many 
 unlucky and disappointing days ; there has been a lack 
 of scent on the ploughs, and a lack of foxes in some 
 important quarters, both of which causes have been 
 deterrents from the attainment of the acme of our hopes 
 and desires. Luckily, however, both are, we trust, ephe- 
 meral, and with such a master, and such a pack of 
 hounds, surely there is not a true man in the countv, or 
 
vu 
 
 at all events in that part of it where the Shropshire 
 hunt, that will not religiously preserve foxes from now 
 till the end of the chapter. Lord Hill has shown a noble 
 example as an Ex-M.F.H. in this respect, for Hawk- 
 stone, both hill and dale, has been full of foxes through- 
 out the season, and great have been the incursions into 
 Sir Watkin's country from there. Mr. Arthur Lloyd, of 
 Leaton Knoll, too, has kept his side of the Chester 
 railway in an excellently preserved state, as the many 
 calls on it have testified. Sir Vincent Corbet also 
 responded to all the appeals made upon his coverts in 
 the affirmative, with one or two exceptions, and then I 
 believe there were local causes for the disappointment. 
 Mr. Bibby has done his best, and will have a hand in 
 making a new gorse, near Shingiers, this spring. 
 No one enjoys the fun more than he does. Mr. 
 Slaney Eyton at Walford, has shown sport from his 
 Merrington coverts, and would like to see them even 
 better tenanted than they are. Mr. Sparrow, at 
 Albrighton, rehgiously befriends foxes, and has plenty 
 in Preston Gubbalds. In the Peplow, Hinstock, and 
 Hodnet country, there are good friends and true. 
 High Ercall and Withyford have not turned out, 
 this year, a foxey country, the cause for which 
 Borderer knows not, but believes it to be accidental. 
 Battlefield has certainly not upheld the great name 
 and fame of Corbet, this season. Mr. Dryden 
 Corbet, however, is such a thorough and excellent 
 sportsman, although not a hunter, that he will, I 
 am sure, not be appealed to in vain, if the petition 
 to preserve a few more foxes in this great 
 nursery of the hunt is properly worded. We 
 must not forget, however, that Holly Coppice 
 and Haughmond Hill have afforded us some 
 foxes, and that probably the best run of the 
 season was that one hour and thirteen minutes from 
 Holly Coppice to the foot of the Wrekin, with a brilliant 
 
Vlll 
 
 finish in the open. Lord Berwick has been a thorough: 
 friend to the hunting men of Shropshire. He has shown 
 conclusively that foxes and pheasants can live together 
 at Attingham, and has never grudged the pleasure- 
 seekers of the county town and neighbourhood a day 
 in his park when the hounds came to Atcham Bridge. 
 I wish I could say that some visitors had not taken 
 advantage of this kindness to be heedless of their goings 
 and comings over private walks, grass plots, and lawns. 
 But Lord Berwick lays not this damage to the door of 
 the true foxhunters, and he looks to them to prevent 
 others doing rude and thoughtless things. Longnor 
 coverts have been almost tenantless this season, an 
 unwished for occurrence on the part of its owner, and 
 unlikely to occur again. In the South, Colonel Cotes, at 
 Pitchford, has done his best to have foxes, and will, I am 
 sure, continue to do so. Mr. Hulton Harrop's heart is in 
 the right place, and so we believe is Mr. Pelham's, at 
 Cound. Sir Frederick Smythe has never failed this 
 season to show foxes at Acton Burnell, and we honor 
 him for it, as he is not now able to join in the sport him- 
 self. Of the Condover property, '' the least said 
 soonest mended." There is, I hear, eveiy chance of better 
 things next season hereabouts. At Onslow we had one 
 foxey day, which cost Borderer some trouble. He will 
 not revert to it, because he desires to bury the hatchet, 
 in full assurance that there is now no bad blood between 
 him and Colonel Wingfield. The more to demonstrate 
 this, he has eliminated from these notes all reference to 
 the subject which led to a correspondence between him 
 and the Colonel, and trusts that foxes and phesants will 
 go together at Onslow in the future, as pleasantly as 
 Horses and Hounds have done in the pages of Eddoives's 
 Journal. Sir Baldwin Leighton has found foxes for us 
 twice at Loton, and each time has seen one killed. 
 Bowton Castle, now that the shooting is in the hands of 
 Mr. Shaw, will, next season, I am sure give us some runs, 
 especially if that pot-hunting neighbouring farmer will give 
 
IX 
 
 up shooting tliem, and the foxes themselves will determine 
 
 not to xDoke their bodies into narrow drains, and thus 
 
 commit suicide. General Jenkins, I hope, still has his 
 
 chap-in-a-tree, although I fear his keeper thinks the 
 
 situation too near the pheasants. Bickley ought to breed 
 
 us once more a good a litter of cubs, and Hanwood Gorse 
 
 should return to its old reputation. Netley, too, has 
 
 been unfortunate this season, while Cressage and Frodes- 
 
 ley have afforded foxes when required. To sum up, I 
 
 think that I can safely say that the Shropshire's star is 
 
 in the ascendant, and whether she retains her unity of 
 
 North and South beyond the coming season, or not, she 
 
 will have the satisfaction of knowing that in hunting 
 
 matters she has pulled herself together not a little. 
 
 New gorse coverts are on the tapis. Over preservation of 
 
 game is becoming discountenanced. The determination 
 
 to back up a good aud princely-minded sportsman, who 
 
 has come to their rescue, has taken possession of people 
 
 and although they cannot cjuite repeat with truth the 
 
 parody of Mr. Bromley Davenport on the greater Shires: 
 
 " Quo cunque adspicias, nihil est nisi gramen et aer," 
 
 They can truly say that a plentitude of enjoyment is to 
 
 be won by them over the grass and plough in varying 
 
 similitudes through Salopia's fair vale. 
 
 I have yet a few words to say about the Ludlow pack, 
 
 that, under the long reign of Mr. C. W. Wicksted, have 
 
 made for themselves a name, which is fast extending 
 
 beyond their own border as well as county. It is hardly 
 
 to be wondere that the son of him, whom Warburton 
 
 delights to honour in such strains as these — 
 
 '• A fig for your Leicestershire swells 
 While Wicksted such sport can ensure, 
 Long- life to that varmint old Wells ! 
 Success to the country of Woore I 
 Let Statesmen on politics parley. 
 Let heroes go fight for renown, 
 While I've health to go hunting with Charley 
 I envy no Monarch his crown — '' 
 
 should have brought foxhunting in South Shropshire and 
 
 part of North Hereford to such a state of perfection.. 
 
Hounds have always been a family passion witli the 
 Wicksteds, and the love and knowledge of them has come 
 down lineally upon the j^resent representatives of the 
 family both at Betley, in Cheshire, and at Ludlow, in a 
 marked degree. If you want to learn anything of the 
 characteristics of a good and perfect hound go and spend 
 a day with Wicksted in his ; kennels, or any one else's 
 kennels, for he is not egotistical or narrowminded in his 
 eye to abound. So it come? that he has, after twenty 
 years' labour, got together a lot of high-bred hounds, that 
 can hunt, speak, and drive through one of the most 
 difficult and intricate contries in the West Midlands. He 
 is backed, too, by the most genuinely sportsman-like 
 set of country gentlemen that Shropshire possesses. His 
 fcxes are almost uniformly preserved, and his fields are 
 select, without any ignorant tail, and include plenty of far- 
 mers. It has not leen Borderer's luck to reach his meets 
 this season more than once, and then only for a few 
 short hours, but he has been able to retail iiore than 
 one excellent run that has fallen to their lot, and has 
 missed several others quite worthy of a place in these 
 notes. 
 
 The Ludlow season has been decidedly a good one, and 
 above the average. Their runs have been remarkable, 
 not only for straightness, but from having started from 
 some of their biggest woodlands and gone straight into 
 Radnorshire or the United Countiies, reaching points 
 never 'before attained by these hounds in living memory. 
 Nothing could speak more strongly for the pack than 
 this, and '' the little Ludlow," as they were once called, 
 have reason indeed to be proud of their doings. The 
 master has handed the horn that he carried for so many 
 years to Johnson, who acted last season as his 
 kennel huntsman and first whip. Johnson is young, but 
 has shown himself to be made of the true metal, as he 
 has picked up all the good points of his master's craft, 
 and adds to them the advantages of being a first-rate 
 horseman, keen, quick, and quiet. He served his 
 
XI 
 
 apprentieesliip with tlie Shropshire, so that we have a 
 double interest in Johnson, and wish him well in every 
 way. Perhaps the Ludlow bears away the palm for sport, 
 next to Mr. Reginald Corbet, this season. 
 
 The Wheatland I have been unable to write of this 
 season, but am living in hope as regards the future. Mr. 
 J. C. Allen retires from the mastership at the end of the 
 season, and his successor has been chosen, but I am not 
 now in a position to speak of him or the prospects of this 
 tight little sporting hunt. 
 
 The United pack also have certainly cause to growl at 
 their old friend Borderer for not having taken any 
 notice of them during the season I can only plead 
 guilty, and trust in their clemency^and forgiveness. Many 
 is the happy day that I have enjoyed with the United 
 pack, from the early days of old Rob ert Luther down to 
 a couple of seasons back with John Harris. Indeed, it 
 wag Luther that gave me aiy first honestly won brush, 
 when we found a fox in Lingen Valletts, and ran him to 
 Stanage, over Reeve's Hill to Norton, across the river 
 Lugg, to the Beggar's Bush and Evancoyd, to 
 Womaston, over Knill Garroway, and, turning down, 
 killed him in the river Hindwell, close to Knill Court. 
 I was just eight and a half years old, but can remember 
 every turn of that run as if it was yesterday, and can see 
 plainly one man plunging into Evancoyd Pool by 
 mistake, and his horse swimming about in it. Old 
 Luther fastened the brush on the crupper of my pony's 
 (Old Lion) saddle, and told me was " a made 
 
 sportsman." He little knew perhaps how much that 
 speech had to answer for, and how but for that flattering 
 encouragement Borderer might have . ^ . No, 
 come this won't do, these egotistical recollections have 
 no proper place in this diary. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. Mytton for the illustrations of 
 these notes. There is much in a name, but there is more 
 in a lineal descent. Never was a truer example of a 
 grandfather's love of sport displayed in the grandson. 
 
Xll 
 
 The one the great actor over Shropshire pastures, the- 
 other as fond of the sport, although nnable at present to 
 pursue it, and a clever portray er of hunting field 
 sketches — a talent that I trust will ere long bring him 
 grist to the mill. 
 
 BORDEEER. 
 
 Ai^ril 8th, 1885. 
 
HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES 
 
 IN 
 
 SHEOPSHIRE AND CHESHIEE. 
 
 ^' FIEST WEEK:— October 27 to Novembee 1. 
 
 In Shropshire there is no reed that I should 
 plead excuses for treating your readers each week to a few 
 practical commentaries on such a sporting theme as 
 this. A chronicle that deals with the leading sports is 
 certain to win smiles all round the Wrekin ; and, if it 
 fails to claim your approval, or even indulgence, the fault 
 will lie with the author rather than his subject. 
 
 The thread of discourse, as it breaks upon us this week, 
 is taken up at a most opportune moment. The flickering 
 embers of a racing season are giving way to the bright 
 scarlet flash of an opening hunting season, and sports- 
 men who have a horse and a hound are buckling on their 
 armour for the chase. A few words on the departing 
 racing season, and I will leave it only to touch hereafter 
 on its local aspect, as week by week it may crop up at 
 Shrewsbury, or elsewhere within the radius of your ken. 
 The season of 1884 will be notorious for its Derby dead 
 heat ; its ephemeral plunger — Sir John Willoughby ; its 
 loss of Lord Falmouth, and his great sale ; its hard ground; 
 and the unbounded success of an ex-tout, jockey's valet, 
 and clever owner and backer of horses — Mr. John 
 Hammond — who, yesterday a wayfarer, has to-day 
 "become fortune's favourite — the owner of two such great 
 
2 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 horses as St. Gatien and Florence, and the proud 
 possessor of the Jockey Club Cup ! What an example 
 of the great lev^elling tendency of the turf! The man 
 who, in common with all his class, has scarce withstood 
 the ban of Jockey Club wrath, or avoided being hunted 
 from their heath, comes and, at the j5.rst attempt, wins 
 their two great handicaps, and places their proud trophy 
 on his plebeian sideboard, chuckling over the =£150,000 that 
 he counted as his gains in a single year, to keep it in 
 dignity ! 
 
 Shropshire is not without the honour of its season's 
 doings. It has aided Mr. Hammond in his triumphs. 
 Wisdom, the sire of Florence, and Enigma, her dam, hail 
 from Snifnal. She is, therefore, a native-born one. How 
 well I recollect looking over that pretty, neat little horse 
 Wisdom, at Tattersalls', the day before he was bought for 
 a very few hundreds, to come into Shropshire, dud 
 thinking that, taking as he was to the eye, how little 
 likely he looked te make a name for himself at the stud. 
 Florence's dam. Enigma, cost £25, I believe, and-; St. 
 Gatien's repudiated sire was condemned to the life of a 
 cab horse, until his brilliant son dragged him from his 
 obscurity. Talking of Wisdom, he is more curiously 
 inbred to Pocahontas than any animal I know, his sire 
 being by Blinkhoolie, by Rataplan, and his dam by Stock- 
 well, „both sons of Pocahontas. Let us speak it in all 
 honour of Mr. Hammond. He has showed an example 
 worthy to be followed by some members of the Jockey 
 Club in the straightforward way he has run his horses. 
 Only one question of the British pu])lic remains un- 
 answered by him — What was Florence doing on the City 
 and Suburban day with 6st. 121b. on her back, from 
 Tattenham Corner to the winning post ? 
 . And now to hunting. Such a spell of fine autumn 
 weather, with scarce a drop of rain, has never been 
 chronicled for the last half century, and undergrowth in 
 the coverts has increased marvellously. The partridge 
 shooters have had an unparalleled time of it, while 
 hunting has been surrounded by difficulties. Foxes 
 like all other animals this season, have bred well, and are 
 plentyful, notwithstanding that more were killed last year 
 by hounds than ever before. Mr. Heywood-Tjonsdale, in 
 succeeding Lord Hill in the mastership of the Shropshire 
 has undertaken no mean task, and every huntsman round 
 
Mr. Lonsdale — Cuhhunting, S 
 
 the Wrekin regrets tlie cause of such a fine sportsman as 
 Lord Hill having to retire. He hands over, however, to 
 his successor a pack of hounds faultless in shape, and 
 wellnigh matchless in the field, a huntsman, in Alfred 
 Thatcher, who is thoroughly up to his work, a good 
 kennelman, knows what his hounds are doing, and is 
 known of them ; not altogether a bruiser, hut where 
 hounds really run he is there or thereabouts, and his first 
 whip, Harry Bevans, is sure to be handy, for he is a 
 veritable horseman, not to be denied. Cubs have died in 
 plenty — some fifteen l^races of them — but of runs in the 
 open there have been very few. Indeed the orders have 
 universally been " not to let 'em go." The state of the 
 ground has been an excuse for this, and yet I confess to 
 be the opponent of heading and badgering cubs or foxes 
 to death, as at present practised, especially when it leads 
 as it did the other day, to the staining of Rowton gorse, 
 the cream of the country, with blood, and thereby probably 
 rendering it blank up to Christmas. I should be 
 unfaithful to the truth if I did not lament, in common 
 with many others, the scarcity of foxes south of the river. 
 Pit(;liford held three or four one morning, and better 
 things are reported Rowton Wjty than last } ear. An old 
 fox only at Lythewood ; Cound and Cressage doubtful. 
 Stapleton indisturbed. Condover, including Bomere, 
 utterly blank ; and hunting men are to pay £600 a year 
 for the pleasure of seeing all this stretch of country drawn, 
 knowing that it contains less than half a dozen litters of 
 foxes by wa^v of a start ! 
 
 "Next week hunting news will be in full swing. At 
 present everybody is praying for lain. Below are the 
 reports of some of our local packs, culled from Bailys 
 Magazine for this month. 
 
 The Albeighton have no changes to report. Plenty 
 of foxes and lot s of blood ; in fact, too many foxes killed 
 some mornings to please old sportsmen, who are waiting 
 for the ground to be r;deable. 
 
 Cheshiee. — No change, except Harry Jones to be second 
 whip. Very good prospects of sport ; plenty of foxes, but 
 very bad scent. 
 
 Cheshire feouTH. — Mr. Corbet has William Neat as a 
 new second whip. Reports a very good show of foxes 
 everywhere, and scent fair until the ground became hard 
 and dry. Ground Game Act has decimated the rabbits. 
 
4 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES, 
 
 Foxes consequently work the poultry to such an extent 
 that it is next to impossible to keep pace with the demands 
 for poultry damage on the part of the farmers. 
 
 The Ludlow. — No change, except that Johnson has 
 taken the horn for the present ; plenty of foxes, but scent 
 on the limestone hills next to nothing, and cubs very 
 -difficult to catch. 
 
 The Shropshire. — Mr. Heywood-Lonsdale succeeds 
 Lord Hill as master, and has had a successful cub- 
 hunting, notwithstanding the dry weather. Found plenty 
 ©f cubs north of the Severn, and had plenty of blood. 
 The young entry work well, and there is no lack of music 
 in the coverts. 
 
 Staffordshire, North. — No change, except that the 
 second whip, Chandler, has left. A very fair season so 
 far ; scent not good. Killed eleven brace up to the 6th 
 of October. « 
 
 Staffordshire, South. — No change, except as to the 
 second whip. Good sport through cub-hunting, account- 
 ing for their fox every day. Wonderful show of foxes at 
 Maple Hayes, Lysways, and Beaudesert. 
 
 Eadnorshire and West Hereford. — No change. 
 Prospects fair ; scent variable. Some litters stolen from 
 the E-adnor side of the county, said to have gone to 
 another portion of Herefordshire. Masters in turning 
 down foxes, should be careful in finding out where they 
 come from. 
 
 The United Pack go on as last year, and have done 
 well with the cubs. The pack looks like being a very 
 killing one this year. 
 
 The Wheatland. — Mr. J. G. All^n has taken the 
 mastership, with Mr. Friend as his assistant in the field, 
 and the old pack of hounds. The country is too hard and 
 dry to be rideable, but the farmers are patient, and long- 
 ing to try their young ones in friendly rivally up to the 
 Brown Glee ills. 
 
 Sir Watkin Williams Wynn's. — Goodall has killed 
 plenty of cubs, and had some fair sport, considering the 
 state of the ground. He has no complaints as to the 
 scarcity of foxes. Sir Watkin, to the regret of all, is 
 not likely to take the field himself, but will be ably repre- 
 sented by his i^ephew and his bride, who are both so keen 
 for sport that the shadow of this celebrated pack is not 
 likely to grow less at present. 
 
The Shropshire at HaivJcstone. 5 
 
 SECOND WEEK, November 4 to 8. 
 
 Sunday's rain came in tlie nick of time, for seldom has 
 a more glorious morning opened a hunting season than 
 that of Monday, the third of November, when nature 
 seemed to he decked in her most gorgeous garment to 
 welcome the Shropshire, under their new mastership, to 
 Hawkestone. How superb that premier seat of the county 
 looked ! Its dusky deer, matched by its silver grey and 
 black rabl)its, and its grand old fir- topped cliffs at " The 
 Grotto," its lustrous autumn-tinted foliage, its undulating 
 park, its lovely lake, its superb landscape of rich vale, 
 defying the eye to define its limits, and its sweet many- 
 coloured little guinea-pigs which fared sumptuously on 
 the velvet lawn, charms for the giithering spoi-tsmen such 
 as no other piece of grand old English mansion scenery 
 could have exceeded. But, as Jorrocks would have said, 
 " our business is of the chase, " and we must perforce 
 trot away with the hounds to the north lodge, and leave 
 these beauteous reflections but half told. It was hardly 
 a representative gathering of Shropshire, for Sir Watkin 
 had rival charms at Kednal to-day. There were some 
 Hills of course, (his lordship an enforced spectator), some 
 Percys, some Cottons, a Corbet, a Sandford, a Rocksavage, 
 a fair contingent from the Whitchurch side, a solitary 
 representative of the county town, and a few farmers, that 
 waited scarce three minutes in the road outside Wyrley 
 Eough for the welcome tallyho that set them ail 
 pushing through the narrow covert just in time to see 
 the hounds streaming away over the oj^en in glorious style. 
 Hearts had to be quickly hardened, for the fences looked 
 thick and uninviting, and there was no time for picking 
 places. The second had its votary in one of our best men, 
 and before half a dozen had been negotiated, those with 
 the hounds could be counted on the fingers. Twemlows 
 looked to be our fox's point, when alas, the inevitable 
 stumbling-block, in the shape of a turnip gatherer appeared, 
 and, " tallyho " back was the order of the day. Our fox 
 now became the scarecrow of the rearguard, amid whose 
 shouts he vanished into thin air, and our fun with him 
 for to-day was at an end. On such an amiable day a jog 
 to Losford Gorse was pleasant enough, and when there, 
 hound music soon told us to be on the qui vive, and away 
 went the cigars. He was no lingerer, and crossing to the 
 lower covert broke at the bottom for the brook of such 
 
6 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 immortal jumping fame. To tell the trutli, it did not look 
 so formidable as in mid-winter. And with fresh horses and 
 light hearts the majority of the field were soon on the right 
 side, some with scrambles and hind legs dangerously 
 poised, but only one regularly collapsing. 
 
 He was a water-loving fox, for ere lie reached Bletchley 
 village he re-sought the brook, this time close to the hunt- 
 ing bridge, only after having tempted his foremost pur- 
 suers to follow him over it ; and, one field higher, then for 
 the third time he crossed it, and put their jumping powers 
 to a test ere he vanished (we fancy into a sandpit earth), 
 close to the village — for w^e cast for him in vain Cloverley 
 way. Bar the fun of the Losford brook this was a poor 
 hunt, and when the orders were given for Losford covert, 
 as a second call, there were many grave faces at the scent- 
 ing prospects of the day. So much for the fallacy of 
 prognostications ! — a fox was not long in showing himself 
 to be at home. This time he broke away at the top, and 
 swinging to the left, crossed the road near some farm 
 buildings, where the overpressure of horsemen caused 'a 
 momentary uneasiness as to his line. This put right, away 
 he spun merrily as if Hodnet was his point, and then, 
 gradually inclining to the right, gave us the benefit of a 
 fine line of grass with big hairy fences that declined to 
 be trifled with. The field, as it invariably does, divided 
 — those on the left included the huntsman, while the right 
 hand division was more select, and as it turned out, most 
 fortunate. An out-lying fox from a marl pit deluded the 
 left hand men, while those on the right were sailing away 
 in Elysian fields, only to be brought to a halt by the park 
 fence at Hawkestone, luckily close to a lodge. On, on flew 
 the hounds, like pigeons, though the park and j)ast the 
 house, up to the rhododendrons above the cliff. Twenty- 
 five minutes of real galloping, and not more than seven 
 enjoying it to the full. Had scent served here he must 
 have fallen a victim, as he dodged ibout to gain breathing 
 time, and eventually scrambled into a rocky haven near 
 the grotto. By those who saw it this was voted a nice 
 thing. 
 
 The afternoon produced still further fun in a spin fi'om 
 the Lower Heath to Soulton Wood, where, as usual of late 
 in cover, scent failed. In fact, we must not expect to have 
 a scent in covert until the leaf is laid by snow, or some 
 heavy downpour. 
 
Sir Watkin at Bcdnal. — Atcliam Bridge. 7 
 
 Sir Watkin's, at Rednal, did not equal in tlicir deeds 
 those of Hawkestone. A fox was found and killed at 
 Woodlands, and tlien there was further skirmishing with 
 another in that neighbourhood, finishing up with a scurry 
 from Grig Hill. 
 
 Wednesday at Albrighton, was very propitious, 
 and of foxes plenty. Preston Gubbalds of course pro- 
 duced several, one of which went away to Hardwicke ,in 
 passing which a silly intruder got ehopped, without, 
 however, much delaying the run, which ended in a ring- 
 back to the place of departure, where he paid the penalty 
 of his life. In a small covert Pimhill way, two or three 
 more were set going, but the one upon whom the attention 
 of the hounds was bestowed, proved nnable to stand up 
 before them long before he too was done to death — a very 
 bloody day. 
 
 Thursday was devoted to charity and dancing, and a 
 very brilliant and delightful ball it was. We must leave 
 its description to more devoted lovers of Terpischore than 
 he who wields this pen, merely soliloquising that if 
 Salopians went as fast in the hunting field as they did 
 in the ball room what a cut 'em down lot they would be. 
 
 On Friday morning, time-honoured Atcliam Bridge 
 was a gathering indeed. Despite the utmost opposi- 
 tion of the elements, it did honour to the county, 
 and must have warmed Mr. Lonsdale's heart. Horse 
 and foot, carriages and coaches, they poured forth their 
 offerings to the shrine of Diana as profusely as the rain 
 poured down its torrents upon them. Attingham coverts 
 and park gave a responsive call to to the multitude, in the 
 shape of at at least three foxes, and all honour to Lord 
 Berwick for his support to the good old cause of fox- 
 hunting in his native county. No. 1 soon made himself 
 scarce; No. 2 was prettily found in an island of osiers just 
 below the ])rivate bridge in the park, and kept us well at 
 work for three quarters of an hour round the precincts of 
 the park and grounds, and, when quite on his last legs, 
 managed to save himself by a little diplomacy close to the 
 entrance lodge adjoining Longnor, and I was glad that he 
 was left to fight another battle with the pack, as he showed 
 pluck to-day. The wire netting all round the park is a 
 terrible drawback to a young fox getting away from it. 
 
 Longnor, unfortunately, afforded no amusement to- 
 day. Holly Coppice wound up the evening by producing 
 
8 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES, 
 
 a fox, who luckily found himself, and, after being headed 
 at the road, when pointing a good line, revenged himself 
 "by dashing away to Haughmond Hill, and, assisted by the 
 shades of evening scored a victory there. An unsatis- 
 factory day, when the dimensions of the field and the 
 occasion are brought into consideration. In the open I 
 believe the scent was a racing one, but in cuvert nil. The 
 latter was the chosen trysting-place of the foxes. Such 
 is life. 
 
 On Saturday, '' all nature was smiling and gay," and 
 great was the eagerness of sportsmen to wind up the week 
 well. Their choice lay between Garden on the north with 
 Sir Watkin, or Whitbach Lodge on the south with the 
 Ludlow. The majority of course chose the former, and a 
 brilliant day they had — two nicf runs over the cream of 
 Cheshire. The first from Garden Cliff to Sandbach, and 
 the second from Royalty G-orse, right into Park Yates' 
 country, and both ending in blood. Would that I had 
 been there to see them, but patience has won kingdoms, 
 and next Saturday I hope to do full justice to this great 
 hunt, as a participator in their glorious fun. 
 
 A penchant for old friends took me to Ludlow, and the 
 meet being within a mile, how could it be resisted? Such a 
 nice, level, short-legged, charming pack of hounds (the 
 bitches) clustered round the new huntsman, Johnson, that 
 had I not known what a first-rate hound-man the master, 
 Mr. G. W. Wicksted, was, I should have marvelled at their 
 excellence. From far and near came genuine men who 
 stick together like true sportmen, until there was more 
 than an average field. Not the least interesting member 
 of wliich was almost the earliest comer, and often, I under- 
 stand, the last to turn homewards, he proudly boasts of one 
 hundred and ten years as the joint ages of himself and his 
 grey mare. A spinney close to the woods of Henley Hall at 
 once found us a fox, that broke boldly without hesitation in 
 full view of everybody. A prettier, fairer start no man 
 could have wished for, and away we went in full swing 
 straight for Caynham Gamp (the best line), l)ut scarce a 
 mile had we gone, and began to shake nicely into our 
 places, than the inevitable turnip-gatherer turned him 
 from his purpose, and he swung to the left, setting his 
 head straight for the Titterstone Glee Hill. The right 
 hand men had to come outside the circle, and there were 
 many sighing gees before the actual hill was reached, and 
 
Caynliam Camp — SJireivsbiiry Baces. 9 
 
 the streaming pack were seen to go right over its conical 
 summit, only to circuit back again into the main earths in 
 the Stones. Fast enough for anything, a trifle under half- 
 an-hour, and not a semblance of a eheck. A turn of our 
 horse's head to the wind, and such a panorama as 
 even the Wrekin could not excel, met our delighted gaze. 
 The afternoon at Caynham Camp I was obliged to miss, 
 as trains must be caught — of one thing, however, I took 
 accurate bearings, and that is that the Ludlow are in good 
 form this year, and will be heard of to advantage again 
 before long. 
 
 Three letters reach me this morning of the red letter 
 day on Saturday with the Ludlow after I left. The 
 identical spinney — all honour to Mr. Wood — produced a 
 second fox, that took them again straight to the Stones to 
 ground. Caynham Camp produced a clipper that took 
 them at a cracking pace by Maggoty Hill and Knowbury, 
 across the road to Whitton Court and Hope Court, to the 
 Knowle, then for the Court of Hill and Corley Coppice, 
 where he faced again for the hill, by Dorrington Church, 
 across the Titterstone below the Stones, to the Three 
 Horse Shoes and Loughton, nearly reaching Burwarton, 
 when darkness compelled a surrender on the part of the 
 pursuers. Two and a half hours — a splendid run, as 
 those who know the country will testify — foxes must have 
 been changed somewhere by the Knowle. 
 "■ A -fig for your Leicestershire swells, 
 While Wicksted such sport can ensure." 
 
 THIRD WEEK, November U to 16. 
 
 Somehow or other it was impossible to get up any 
 excitement over Shrewsbury races this year. By a pro- 
 cess of inanition since Mr. John Frail's days, this once 
 popular and aristocratic; gathering has slowly snuffed 
 itself out. Messrs. Frail, the present lessees, had a 
 godsend in the Royal Agricultural Show, which paid them 
 two years' rent for a short occupancy, and now they have 
 taken the goodwill of the meeting, so to say, in the days 
 of fixture, to Northampton for next year. If Shrewsbury 
 races are to be revived, the course must be fenced in and 
 made a gate-money venture. The rent, about .£400 a year, 
 
10 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 is not preventative, but a leading spirit is wanting, and 
 tlie Shrewsbury of to-day is certainly not keen upon 
 racing. It is not, however, without a pang, that we bid 
 adieu to a meeting that has enjoyed more than a century 
 of prosperity, and where many a proud Salopian sportsman 
 has rejoiced to see his colours successful. Two good 
 sportsmen carried off the chief honours of the two days, 
 in the Duke of Beaufort and Mr. Jardine — the former 
 deserved success, for he has been provokingly often in the 
 second and third place with his useful little team, and I 
 was not unprepared for Mr. Jardine' s success with Spring- 
 bok, of whose opponents Edward would have been most 
 dangerous had he not blundered round the top turn, much 
 in the same way that Tonans did last year at the same 
 place. 
 
 And now to hunting. 
 
 It has not been a great week's sport, although pleasant 
 in weather, and up to the average of our early November 
 chronicle. Monday, at Ellerton, lay too wide for many 
 habitues of the Shrewsbury side to reach. A catchy 
 scent in cover hindered sport, and it was with difficulty 
 that Thatcher managed to own his fox as far as Cole- 
 hurst Wood. In the afternoon, they ran Market Drayton 
 way, to Mr. Tayleur's at Buntingsdale, and killed him at 
 Fell Wall. Tuesday at Wrenbury, Mr. Corbet provided 
 plenty of sport. The first fox, from Court's Grorse, went to 
 Combermere, where the usual changes were rung among 
 the denizens of Lord Combermere's foxy preserves. One 
 from Cocked Hat Wood gave them a very fast gallop of 
 about fifteen minutes, when he yielded his brash. In the 
 afternoon from Hewitt's Gorse they had a very enjoyable — 
 an almost brilliant — forty-five minutes, and killed him 
 close to Court's G-orse, the opening scene of the morning, 
 making a very fair day's sport. 
 
 Thursday, at Pitchford, was a nice hunting day, but 
 extremely foxless, until half-past three in the afternoon. 
 It should be mentioned, however, that Colonel Cotes had 
 shot his coverts only a few days before, and, cf course, 
 thoroughly disturbed them, before he knew of the meet, and 
 had written to Mr. Lonsdale to inform him of it, but too late 
 to prevent the fixture. A very sharp burst from Preston 
 Gorse to Netherwood was the only result of the day's pro- 
 ceedings, and here only two were lucky enough to get 
 away with the hounds, and see the fun, the rest being 
 
Sir Watlciii at Wliitchurch. 11 
 
 scattered in a stern chase. A good wild fox probably 
 pursued the even ten our of his wav to the Edge Wood, 
 unharmed, beyond Netherwood. 
 
 Friday brought a big gathering to the Fifth Milestone, 
 on the Baschurch road, including a good contingent from 
 Sir Watkin's, who could not restrain a compliment to 
 Thatcher on the splendid ap])earance of his pack. The 
 Leaton coverts, as usual, produced a plentiful supply of 
 foxes, upon whom the attention of the pack were kept for 
 a long time without eliciting a run in the open. And it 
 was not until two o'clock, that a move was made for Hen- 
 cot Pool, from a little gcu'se close to which, a straight- 
 necked one put m an appearance, and the hounds getting 
 away at his brush, a sweet gallop resulted to ilie Bircliy 
 Moor, near Albrighton Hall. Fine flat fields, fair fences, 
 and a flinging away of halting propensities, made only too 
 sadly short by the cry of " Gone to ground," when Pimhill 
 and other nice places in the front were beginning to be 
 reckoned upon as the possible points of the run, and 
 " home" was the word. 
 
 Saturday, at Whitchurch, as usual, drew together a 
 monster throng from Shropshire and Cheshire. The 
 morning with its touch of east wind sharpened the wits if 
 not the nerves of the majority. First came a parade of 
 Whitchurch, of which every inhabitant, from ten to four- 
 score, rushed out to be a spectator. At Hinton, Sir Wat- 
 kin, in his In-ougham, gladdened us all by putting in an 
 appearance. The first spinney drawn, Hinton Grorse, 
 produced a fox, that ran into the jaws of the pack in less 
 than five minutes. Three judicious cracks of the whip, 
 before hounds are thrown into a small spinney such as 
 this, would surely be wise, just to awake him to the real- 
 ity of coming events, before the crash of hounds is upon 
 him. Here, however, two or three could well be spared, 
 so thoroughly are they preserved. No. 2 was awake and 
 away ere half the hounds were in the cover, and a pretty 
 start we made up to the top of the hi]l, and then down 
 to the Hall, circling back to a drain at some farm 
 buildings after a few minutes' scurry. No. 3 was being 
 hallaoed on the higher ground towards Wirswall at the 
 same time, and he eventually went down the hill towards 
 Quoiseley, and then to the left down to the canal, which 
 he crossed, and the majority of the field went hither and 
 thither to a brido-e. Some e-ot as far as Maesfen. Not 
 
12 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 so tlie fox, wlio dodged back over the Canal for his 
 home quar ers, and was lost Hinton way. Peel's Gorse 
 was our next liaiuit, and, as usual, produced a plethora 
 of the desired animal. According- to custom, too, there 
 were several false starts, until at last the pack came out, 
 and settled on one going down Whitchurch way, that 
 dropped down across the railway, and looked likely to give 
 us a gallop, l)ut he was a home-sick brute, and circling 
 back by a small Moss, with the pack almost in the same 
 field with him, only just managed to work his way 
 through troops of shouting foot-people to Peel's Grorse, 
 and cheat the hounds of a meal in its almost impene- 
 trable recesses. Sir Watkin, still present on wheels, from 
 which he had se n much fun, then gave the order for Os 
 Mere. There, some salutary cracldngs of whips were 
 decidedly judicious on the railway side, as they awoke up 
 a brace of foxes, which made tracks at once, as if for 
 Ash. The hounds settled on one of them merrily, 
 and, skirting the far side of the Mere, we were obliged 
 to put our best leg foremost to be with them down to 
 Combermere ; disdaining, however, the big covert by the 
 lake, our fox turned left-handed, skirted the park, and 
 then dipped down the valley parallel with the railway, 
 honnds pushing along gloriously, until another left- 
 handed turn brought us to the railway, not far from 
 Wrenbury Station. Cleverly handled over the Jine, we 
 were now in full swing towards the brook, which 
 the hounds did not cross, however, but raced merrily 
 alongside of it on the grass, right up the Cheshire vale 
 as if Marbury Moss was his point. The hounds hesitated 
 after another mile or so, and Coodall took it into his 
 head that an Os Mere fox must necessarily work 
 towards home, dud so persisted in holding them towards 
 the railway again. I venture to think the fox held 
 on his course — at all events, his line had not been 
 recovered when I remembered that the 4 p.m. train 
 had to be caught, and was obliged to turn homewards. 
 The last gallop, the cream of which lasted about thirty 
 minutes to the Wrenbury brook, had redeemed the day 
 from decided mediocrity. But I must fain confess that 
 Goodall's powers as a huntsman, when called into 
 requisition at a critical point in a run, are not of the 
 " born huntsman " character. His friends say he has 
 improved, to which I will add, " There is room for more." 
 
A Fox in a Station — Baschurch. 13 
 
 Bj tlie way, a curious episode reaches me from the 
 Welsh border. Colonel Price, with the Radnorshire, ran 
 a fox fron Stanner last week, that was so hardly pressed 
 that he ran into Dolhir Station, but before he could 
 take his ticket for the next train, the pack succeeded in 
 despatching him to the place of their own choice. Some 
 wag was heard to say that it was fortunate this would 
 be passsenger had not succeeded in emigrating, for he 
 would have taken with him into England such a woeful 
 account of Colonel Price's persecutions to foxdom 
 generally, that visiting relations from England would- 
 have been entirely prohibited, and many a West Hereford 
 gallop would have been nipped in the bud. 
 
 FOURTH WEEK— November 17 to 22. 
 
 A correspondent in a contemporary asks if Shrewsbury 
 races are really to be a thing of the past. This, as I said 
 last week, depends on the people of Shrewsbury. It 
 may, however, be only right to say that there is a 
 difficulty in renewing the lease of the straight mile, but 
 as a recreatioii ground the enclosed space of the round 
 course would be likely to pay well. Cricket, football, a 
 bicycle and a pedestrian track, an exercise ground for 
 horses, a lawn-tennis ground, and a general recreation 
 ground combined, would be of the greatest benefit to 
 Shrewsbury, and would pay well. I know a gentleman 
 who pays largely for the right of exercising his horses on 
 turf near the town, and many would gladly avail them- 
 selves of such a privilege, paying three guineas a year for it. 
 This needs only an enterprising and trustworthy man to 
 take it in hand with success. Cannot our good old town 
 produce such a Simon Pure ? If not, the old course and 
 its surroundings must be handed over to the ruthless 
 hands of the builders, or be let in butchers' plocks. 
 
 Of hunting matters I have a fair budget, albeit rain is 
 sadly wanting before great or exciting sport can be had. 
 
 On Monday, the Shropshire and Sir Watkin competed 
 for patronage — the former at the Kennels, and the latter 
 at Baschurch. Both held full levees, but the latter 
 carried off all the honours. If, in the present dry state of 
 the atmosphere, one place is more suitable than another 
 for holding a scent, it is the fen-like land lying east of the 
 
U HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 Great Western Eailway at Baschurcli. Here Sir Watkin^ 
 personally superintending his pack from his brougham, 
 gave orders for the day's fun to commence. Stanwardine 
 Gorse was the first place of call, and no sooner were the 
 hounds thrown in than there was a crash of music that 
 rattled round the covert for nearly a quarter of an hour 
 before the fox found the exigency of the situation 
 necessitated a speedy departure. That done, there was 
 a desperate stampede over the watery country towards 
 Ellesmere, that gave men, horses, and hounds plenty of 
 employment until the White Mere was skirted, and 
 Otele}^ appeared to be the intended haven, but, turning 
 back, he managed to evade his pursuers near Welshamp- 
 ton, after a very enjoyable run. Back towards Baschurch 
 was again the order, where Sir Watkin had in the 
 meantime had certain intelligence of a fox in a drain, 
 just opposite a public-house, so that thirsty sportsmen 
 took a chain at the barrel, while a terrier tried the foxey 
 drain. The latter poured forth quickly a double potion in 
 a brace of foxes, and amid dire confusion, Goodall and 
 his pack chased one of them pell-mell to Petton, where 
 he unaccountably made himself scarce in the shrubberies. 
 Foiled here, some neighbouring coverts near the railway 
 towards Marton were tried, and what proved to be a 
 gallant fox was found. After making a feint on one side 
 to break, he eventually got away to the east, thereby 
 giving many of the field a bad start. Petton seemed to 
 be his point, skirting which, he went straight to Broughton 
 Gorse, over a very severe line — black, boggy ditches 
 predominating — and great was the grief, and much the 
 fun, of the chaseo One gallant young sportsman, whose 
 name betokens a fondness for water, charged boldly at 18 
 feet of water, and, his horse not being similarly minded, 
 the rider indulged in a solitary header. Goodall showed 
 himself a fine horseman by getting clear over. The way 
 in which certain wide boggy ditches were perambulated 
 to find a sound take-off was charming, hounds all the 
 time running merrily past Broughton, and then, describing 
 a circle back by Snape Gorse, nearly to Wem, and by 
 Petton to Broughton again, where Goodall was fain to 
 leave him, being in the Shropshire country. x\ll had had 
 enough — one hour and twenty minutes. Undoubtedly 
 the best day of the season so far. 
 
 I nearly forgot to say that the Shropshire never smelt 
 
Lotoii Park. 15 
 
 a fox till tliey arrived at Sliawbury Heath, when they 
 ran up to x\cton Eexnald, but could do nothing on that 
 dry side of the country. A very poor day. 
 
 On Wednesday the Shropshire were at Loton Park, 
 where Sir Baldwyn Leighton had purposely stayed at 
 home to meet them, and was exceedingly keen to show 
 them foxes. This he succeeded in doing in a nice covert 
 in the lower country south of the park. Scent was 
 miserable in the covert, and had the fox been a stay-at- 
 home gentleman the hounds could never have hunted at 
 all. As it was, he made tracks quickly for the big wood, 
 above the turnpike road, and thence into tlie park, back 
 to the aforesaid big wood, and then into the top of the 
 park, to ground in a rabbit burrow under shelving rock, 
 where he could barely squeeze himself ont of sight. 
 Picks and spades soon obliged him to bolt. A quick 
 scurry in view, and he was rolled over at the bottom of 
 the park, trying to scale the wall. This was not a 
 solitary fox at Loton, as another fox was viewed out of 
 covert. Eowton had just been shot, so that Mr. Shaw 
 could hardly have been expected to show us a fox, but 
 Bickley Wood was not long in doing justice to its wonted 
 reputation — the property of a quondam master. A good 
 fox, too, for he very quickly quitted his snug quarters, 
 and, crossing the Holyhead Eoad, went a good line just 
 above Preston Montford, hounds settling on him nicely 
 up to the road opposite Onslow. When, misereri mei, 
 just as we were beginning to think of riding, and two or 
 three awkward fences had been crossed, the word went 
 forth, " Get forward, Harry, my orders are not to let 
 them cross the road into Onslow." There was a long 
 blast of the horn, the whip went crack in the very teeth 
 of the scent, and our fun for to-day was over. The 
 Onslow coverts were to be shot next week, so they were 
 not to be disturbed. It might very properly be optional 
 in owners to decline to have their coverts drawn betore 
 they are shot, provided this prohibition does not extend 
 beyond the month of November or half of December. 
 In no case, however, should hounds be whipped off in 
 full cry. We speak in perfect good humour, and in the 
 hope of finding a happy solution to this delicate problem. 
 
 Friday at Stanford Bridge was on the extreme boundary 
 of the country, near Newport, and I am fain to admit 
 that not a whisper of its doings has yet reached me. 
 
U HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 Saturday Sir Watkin was at the old racecourse, Whit- 
 church. A fine frosty morning, and there was the same 
 large cavalcade of welcome that usually does honour to 
 this fixture. Two M.F.H's., Mr. Eeginald Corbet and 
 Mr. Lonsdale, came to congratulate Sir Watkin on his 
 improved health. Sandford Pool, a long trot through 
 Shropshire country, curiously enough, past the Twemlows, 
 was our first draw, nor did it keep us long in suspense. 
 A fox was away over the high pastures, and hounds set 
 to work to run with a will for about fifteen minutes. 
 What a glorious sight it was to see the galaxy of beauty, 
 two hundred men and women all sailing away to their 
 heart's delight over a line of grass, as if the ocean would 
 not stop them. A late comer, with a wide berth on the 
 left had ample scope for a bird's eye view of the hounds 
 and the bulk of the field below him. Two or three 
 riderless horses were careering before we reached the 
 osier bed near Cloverley, where hounds threw up, ane 
 Goodall held them on by the pool in vain. It looked 
 a horse to a hen against his hitting him off, w^hen a 
 timely holloa near the Lodge Gates put us all agoing 
 again, and hounds settled merrily to work over the big 
 fields that soon brought us nearly to Twemlow, turning 
 short, from which he began to run short, and was caught 
 handsomely in the open in a small enclosure before he 
 could get back to Sandford Pool. Without being brilliant, 
 this run had kept us in exercise. Flasks and sandwiches, 
 then another call at Sandford Pool, without a response, 
 then a couple of spinneys were interviewed en route for 
 Cloverley big wood. This was carefully drawn without a 
 whimper, and Goodall had got his hounds nearly to the 
 gorse, when there was a tallyho back in the corner of the 
 covert. Hounds, however, could make nothing of it, and 
 scent under dry fallen oak leaves was simply nil. A fox 
 had evidently entered Cloverley Gorse before the hounds, 
 and they spoke to him the moment they entered. Had he 
 been a good one he would have made tracks at once, instead 
 of which he hung about with the pack at his brush for some 
 minutes, and at last made a dash for Ightfield. For a few 
 fields it looked like a gallop, but headed, we were soon at 
 Cloverley big wood again, and back to the Gorse. 
 Here he or another indulged the field with a 
 pretty little ring to- wards Sandford and back to 
 Cloverley, where he might as well have been under- 
 
Turj Statistics — Coton Hall. 17 
 
 ground for all the scent he gave, and the day was 
 over. Let us hope it was only a prelude to a better. 
 A melancholy story reaches me of vulpicidism, south of 
 the Severn, but I hesitated to publish it without due in- 
 quiry. One thing, dear reader, you may be pleased to hear, 
 and that is, that it has not been laid at the door of a 
 Salopian, but merely at that of a shooting gentleman 
 and his keeper. 
 
 FIFTH WEEK— November 22 to 29. 
 
 The racing season is over, and Mr. Hammond comes out 
 as the great winner of the year, with a total of £12,379 to 
 his credit. Mr. Peck, the trainer is second, with £11,906,. 
 and the Duke of Westminster and Mr. Manton third and 
 fourth — both in the £11,000 category. It has been 
 essentially a commoner's year and a disastrous one for 
 backers as a rule. I may be a false prophet, but to the 
 ideas of not a few, racing is drifting away from its ancient 
 moorings, and instead of being the national pastime of 
 twenty years back, it is becoming every year more a 
 professional business — the old county gatherings are no 
 more. Local interest in racing generally is fading away, 
 except to those who bet at the lists, or can enjoy Epsom, 
 Ascot, and Goodwood, in their season. 
 
 Our hunting budget this week is by no means meagre one^ 
 On Monday, Sir Watkni and Mr. Lonsdale as usual, 
 competed. This time, it was the latter' s turn to win the 
 game, and right well he did it. Coton Hall failed to pro- 
 duce a fox, but Twemlow held a plethora — a brace of stay- 
 at-home received their quietus, afrer a ring or two in co- 
 vert, but the third was made of quite different stuff. Across 
 Which urch old racecourse, and over the L & N.W. Railway 
 to Coton, was his first move, then, swinging round, he re- 
 crossed the railway, and skirting Frees, gave his followers 
 a taste of as stiff a juni])ing country as he could have found 
 towards Soulton Wood, leaving which to the right, he 
 worked his way gallantly l^ack to the Twemlow, and baffled 
 his pnrsuers. A capital hour and twenty minutes- An 
 afternoon t'ox from a pit-hole below Ightfie**d was also- 
 equal to the occassion. Straight to and through the 
 Twemlow, and from thence to Frees, where he desciibed 
 a ring, and eventually got to ground in a rabbit hole^ 
 
18 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 wlien tlie bitclies were screaming for his blood, at a 
 quarter to five in tlie evening, ending a first rate day's 
 sport. 
 
 Sir AVatkin's, at Eednal, drew a large field. Their first 
 fox was overtaken in his slumbers in Sandford Pool, which 
 did not astonish me, seeing what happened at Hinton and 
 elsewhere. The second at Grafton Gorse at once 
 went to ground, as did a bad one from Nesscliff. 
 The Grafton fox having been unearthed, refused to show 
 sport and tried in vain the shelter of a hay loft. A 
 miserably disappointing day. Sir Watkin, however, 
 hear, had a grand run f i-om near Wrexham last week, in 
 which the l)ee was crossed, and Saighton Gorse, in 
 Cheshire, was the finale, the fox getting to ground there, 
 and saving his brush for another da}^ 
 
 On Tuesday, Mr. Corbet did not put in an appearanr^e 
 at Wrenbury, much to the disappointment of a large 
 number of men who hunt here by rail. 
 
 Wednesday with the Shropshire at Lythwood was 
 a real hunting morning and the gathering betokened 
 a remembrance of the great run from here to the 
 Stretton Hills this time last year. Mr. Hulton- 
 Harrop cheered us by cherry l)randy, but to his 
 woeful disappointment not a vestige of a fox Avas at home. 
 The Boniere and Condover coverts being now solely devoted 
 to pheasants, were, of course, a sealed book to us, 
 so there was nothing for it but to droj) down to the Day- 
 house Spinnies, and failing these lo go on to Hanwood, 
 where some splendid lying was diligently searched, as 
 vainly as the Quarry gardens would have been. It is sad 
 indeed to have such an unvaried tale of disaster to fox- 
 hunting to tell of on this side of the country, but Avhat 
 is the use of hiding the truth ? What must that excellent 
 ex-M.F.H., sportsman, and politician. Colonel Corbett, 
 think of his tenant at Longnor, Mr Chaml)erlain, when 
 he knows that he not only himself shot a fox last week, 
 but allowed his keepers and beaters to knock another's 
 brains out ? — when entangled in a net, I suppose ? Let 
 us pray that Birmingham may soon receive him into its 
 bosom again, never to return to Shropshire. Happily, 
 there is a brighter page with which to conclude, and one 
 that will assist to wipe out the shadow of Wednesday. 
 Haughmond Abbey is always lovely and picturesque. It 
 never loomed us more grandly than with the brilliant 
 
Hcmghmond Abbey — A Good Bun. 10 
 
 colours of horsemen and hounds cirding in the foreground. 
 Close by, too, was the counter atraction of Sundorne 
 Coursing Meeting — so near in fact, that the sports seemed 
 in danger of blending. Thatcher's pretty bitches were 
 quite aware that there was something up in the 
 adjoining field, and threw up their heads, and lashed their 
 sterns, as the " too-too " was shouted, and the judge 
 racei after his greyhounds. 
 
 The master gave the word for the Sundorne coverts, 
 which were drawn in a circle from the outside, so as not 
 to disturb the coursing, but were thoroughly irresj^onsive 
 to-day. Holly Coppice was the word, and our hopes 
 grew higher. Scarce half the covert had been drawn 
 before *' Tallyho " at the lower end set us going, and 
 we crossed the High Ercall road jis if for Poynton Springs. 
 It was only a feint, however, for hugging a narrow planta- 
 tion by the roadside, we were soon back over the road, and 
 into Haughmond Hill, past the Tower, and gradually 
 dropping down the hill at the back of Uffington. Those 
 who stuck to the proverbial hill-running propensities of the 
 Haughmond foxes, were thunderstruck at seeing the pack 
 streaming like pigeons across the fields below. Great was 
 the charge of cavahw down that grassy hill, and desperate 
 were the varied attempts of the big field at chosen angles 
 to cut in with the line of chase. I need not draw on your 
 imagination — my readers know well those good square 
 fields of grass and light plough, which border on 
 Upton Magna, and can appreciate the delight of 
 crossing them, as we did, without a moment's cheek or 
 hindrance. On through Withington village, and over the 
 canal the bitches still merrily kept ahead, until they 
 came to the river Tern, close to the withy bed. More than 
 a majority of us wished for a hirn here, but alas, into it 
 they went, and dismay seemed to seize on the pursuers 
 for the next few minutes. Some went to the left for 
 Walcot bridge, others to the right to the Forge ford. A 
 few tried the watery element with varied success. Two 
 only got through loith their horses, while two more per- 
 formed certain gymnastic w^atery tricks, and landed on 
 different sides to their horses. The next precious ten 
 minutes after crossing the Shropshire Union Eailway 
 could only be described by the fortunate couple that held 
 on the line. Just before reaching Charlton there was a 
 slight check, which led up Harry the whip from the left, 
 
20 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES 
 
 and right well he performed as huntsman, carefully and 
 yet quickly holding them on the line, and keeping us 
 going at a slower pace over the main road to Wellington^ 
 and down into the last dip before the foot of the Wrekin 
 is reached. There stood its great wooded side, dark and 
 uninviting, within a few fields of us, and how our hearts 
 sank to think that probably our fox must gain its safety. 
 Aston was passed on the right, and the bitches seemed 
 to take heart. In the next field there was a view holloa 
 What a galvanic shock did that rustic's holloa give us I 
 Up went he bitches' bristles, and we found that the 
 jumping-powder was not all out of us. Ah, he had turned 
 his head from home for the last time. All that could 
 happen now was a scurry and a worry, and this gallant 
 Wrekin fox was numbered with the slain, close to Burcot. 
 The best watch told us that the run had lasted one hour 
 and thirteen minutes, an eight-mile point aoS the crow 
 flies, and quite ten as we ran it. Scarce a score of our 
 big field were there to fhare the triumph, and Thatcher 
 just saved his bacoa by getting up in the last two fields. 
 Two ladies, to their honour be it said, were there too. 
 Sportswomen such as they are scarce in any county, and 
 Shropshire has need to be proud of them. " Good w^ine 
 needs no bush," or we could sing far longer and nobler 
 paeans to the glory of this great Haughmond Abbey day, 
 not forgetting to thank Mr. Corbet for preserving the true 
 animal in Holly Coppice. 
 
 SIXTH WEEK— December 1 to 6. 
 
 I see that the Hackney Society have started a pro- 
 posal to have a show for hunter sires in March in 
 London, when big prizes will be offered. If this system 
 were extended to many horse-breeding counties, it 
 would be of undoubted benefit. Shropshire should imi- 
 tate the example of Suffolk, where, at the end of March, 
 there is an established show for Sires in the county — 
 thoroughbreds, roadsters, coachers, and cart-horses. It 
 has proved a great success, and is entirely self-supporting. 
 Here would be another useful purpose for our old race 
 
Iscoyd — The Shropshire at Onsloio. 21 
 
 ground, and probably the West Midland Show would 
 take advantage of it in 1886. 
 
 My hunting budget is again a full one, although the 
 week opened with frost and snow, and spoilt the ex- 
 pectations of Baschurch on Monday. 
 
 To begin wdth, I am anxious to find a good excuse for 
 our blank day at Lythwood. It seems that the earths 
 on Lyth Hill were not stopped. The Condover keeper, 
 who had been in the habit of doing this work, had been 
 discharged, and his successor did not know that it was 
 part of his duties. The earth is well used. The earths 
 at Hanwood were also open. This is a weak place in 
 our armour, which Thatcher, the huntsman, should look 
 after. 
 
 On Sa^turday, the 28th of November, from Iscoyd, Sir 
 Watkin had a first rate run over an unexpected country, 
 by Maesfen, through some black peaty laonds towards 
 Norbury, and leaving Cholmondeley on the left, went on 
 straight to Vvrenbury Moss to ground. This was a fine 
 line. 
 
 On Tuesday, December 2nd, Mr. Corbet was the only 
 master who took the field, and with a few attendants 
 had a poor day in the Burleydam country. 
 
 Wednesday found the Shropshire at Onslow, where 
 only a small field turned up. There were plenty of 
 creature comforts for those wdio required them, and foxes 
 plentiful. A brace were soon disposed of in covert, 
 (one killed and the other run to ground). A good fox, 
 however, was found later in the day, in a small covert 
 near Ford village, alongside the disused Potteries Rail- 
 way. A very fast fifteen minutes' run resulted, over 
 the railway, and on by Preston Montford nearly to 
 Bickley Wood, where hounds threw up, and his line 
 was not recovered, the probability being that he had 
 slipped back to Preston Montford. Bickley Wood failed, 
 and there was nothing for it but home. 
 
 Priday the 5th, had duplicate attractions in Walford 
 Hall and Aldersey Village. Both had some sport to 
 boast of. Mr. Eyton was very keen to show us a fox 
 from his spinney by the side of the Perry, but he 
 was not at home, nor was he in the small coverts 
 west of the Greit Western Railway. Directly, how- 
 ever, Thatcher t ied Merrington Wood, things assumed 
 a merrier hue. Breaking at once to the south, it 
 
 ci 
 
22 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 momentarily looked as if Leaton was to be his point; 
 but he had better intentions, and hounds settled prettily 
 on the grass for Pimhill. When within a field of it, 
 however, after several nice little fences had been 
 negotiated, he swung short to the right, and crossed 
 the road nearly to Bomere Heath ; then left-handed 
 again as if for Birchy Moor. Hounds were brought to 
 their noses on some foiled ground, and could not carry 
 much head, when he bore to the left still more, and 
 entered Preston Gubbalds. Scent improving in covert, 
 he was soon driven through, pointing for Grinshill ; but, 
 headed on the road, he once more swung back to the 
 Gubbalds. Here they soon forced him or another away 
 in a similar direction, but he declined crossing the 
 London and North-Western Eailway, and ran down 
 nearly to Hadnal Station, describing a circle back again, 
 and just saving his brush in a rabbit hole, close to 
 Albrighton Hall. The whole run had kept us going 
 for an hour and twenty minutes — forty minutes up to 
 Preston Gubbalds — which all wdio cared for the fun 
 could enjoy. Middle Park, in the afternoon, did not 
 provide a fox, though one was believed to be under- 
 ground there. 
 
 Sir Watkin's at Aldersey, wasted the morning after 
 a fox that went to the hills. In the afternoon, from 
 Royalty, they had a screaming twenty minutes with a 
 ringing fox, over a clipping country, and then they 
 rolled him over in the open. 
 
 Saturday opened as balmy as May, such a hunting 
 day as we seldom see in December, and such a throng 
 of eager sportsmen and sportswomen as met Sir Watkin 
 at Whitchurch has not been seen this season. Ash 
 Wood, our first draw, is a favoured spot — plenty of room 
 here for a galloping crowd, and few there were to-day 
 but intended going wherever it willed that hounds 
 should take them. Of course, Ash had foxey tenants, 
 but they were not in a hurry to leave. The best end 
 was left well open to them, but at last one chose the 
 north, and away went the two -hundred in terrific 
 array, pent up at starting by an impossible corner, 
 and a rara avis, a ploughed field. Then came a 
 separation, and the hounds bent to the right, and 
 settled on their fox in earnest, racing into Comber- 
 mere by the lodge, with the majority of the non- 
 
SIK WATKIN". 
 
Wliitchurch — A good day. 23 
 
 riding division meeting them there. Through the park 
 the fox was scarcely out of view, the foremost of the 
 field viewing him as he went to the lower end of the 
 big lake, and into the plantations beyond. Forced into 
 the open at the end of the park, he bore short to the 
 right, and in a few fields was at Burleydarn, where, 
 in sheer despair, he jumped into a barn, and then into 
 the hounds' mouths. A big fine fox, but too fat for 
 such a cracking pace on so hot a morning — thirty 
 minutes. Trotting back towards Ash, we arrived at 
 Colonel Eivers Bulkeley's, where the hounds were 
 thrown into a round spinney not larger than his 
 kitchen garden, and yet as thick as Erebus, and in as 
 good keeping. Whips were well cracked, and at last 
 there was a whimper, followed by the expose of a fine 
 fox, going full sail in front of the house. Again, great 
 was the charge of cavalry, right though that good 
 sportsman's stableyard, and down over the meadows 
 for Ash. Not to enter it, however, wonderful to say, 
 but running parallel a couple of fields away. It was 
 perfect steeplechasing for those who tried to live with 
 the hounds, and fences of every description had to be 
 negotiated full swing, as the hounds bore still more to 
 the right short of Ash Village, and crossed the main 
 road near to the chapel. Peel's Gorse now seemed our 
 fox's point, but before reaching Osmere he bore again 
 to the right, and dashing into Combermere, lay down 
 in the first withy bed he could find, after bringing us a 
 most exciting, and racing burst of thirty minutes or 
 thereabouts, that had told tales on our horses. Here 
 Goodall had left him, and was hanging on a stale line 
 by the side of the drive, when one of the whips saw 
 him steal away, and we were once more after him at 
 the top of the park, across the road and railway, and 
 down into Marley Moss, where he tried the ambush 
 game with less success, and was caught, ending a 
 very pretty run satisfactorily. Foxes were going in 
 every direction in the Moss, much to Mr. Corbet's 
 chagrin, as we were in Cheshire county, and he was 
 reckoning upon Marley Moss for his next Tuesday's 
 run. Hounds were, however, eventually stopped, and 
 the word given for Ash once more. Alas, the day 
 ended not as it had been begun. The noted little withy 
 bed was true to its traditions, and held a fox — only to 
 
24 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES 
 
 be worried in its kennel, and to afford us no run. 
 
 This deponent can say no more of the day, as the 
 four p.m. train waits not even for foxhunters. I can 
 truly say, however, that this was the Whitchurch's 
 best day thus far ; plenty of scent, splendid going, and 
 foxes, if not very strong, fairly good performers for 
 this time of year. 
 
 Next week the Shropshire ought to have sport, for 
 their meets are good ones, and the hounds are in 
 excellent form. That bitch pack is worth a Jew's eye I 
 
 SEVENTH WEEK— December 8 to 13. 
 
 The turf world is feeding on dry statistics, like 
 squirrels over their winter stores. Busybody is at the 
 head of the poll for the year, with winnings amounting 
 to upwards of £6,400 ; next to her comes The Lambkin 
 with £5,300, and St. Gatien third with £4,900, Scot 
 Free fourth with ^4,700. Cherry, Harvester, Cambus- 
 can, Sandiway and St. Simon being ahead of the rest 
 in the order named. Toastm aster is first among the 
 aged horses. Tristan, of course, heads the six-year- 
 olds, Geheimniss the five-year-olds, and Florence the 
 four-year-olds, with .£5,400 to her credit, beating 
 Energy, who is second, by more than a thousand. 
 
 The Grand National Hunt Committee has fixed upon 
 Lincoln for the scene of their Spring Steeplechases, and 
 the Jockey Club has been employing its leisure in issuing 
 a circular calling roundly to task the jockeys who are 
 owners of horses, as well as flagellating them for their 
 betting transactions. They have also gone so far as to 
 prohibit Mr. Baird, better known as Mr. Abingdon, 
 from training horses on Newmarket Heath. This is a 
 strong measure, seeing that he has just taken a lease of 
 Bedford Lodge stables and ground for £1,800 a year, and 
 won some big races. The ostensible reason given is 
 that Mr. Baird had continued to run horses in other 
 people's names while under the ban of the Jockey Club 
 The latter, however, must have known this at the time, as 
 the outside world did, and shouli not have reinstated 
 
Addendum to Whitchurch, Saturday. 25 
 
 him as an owner of racehorses unless tliey intended 
 to thoroughly forgive him. Mr. Abingdon will now owe 
 them a heavy grudge. All the racing world, Jockey Club 
 included, has long known of the jockeys' d-'linquencies 
 complained of in the circular. To further attempt their 
 repression by threats will only place a thicker veil over 
 them, and make them more dangerous. The ring men 
 are really masters of the situation in these degenerate 
 days of the turf, and just in proportion as honest owners 
 of racehorses fall off, so much the more must they create 
 dummy owners to deceive the public with ; and jockeys' 
 money to them is as sweet as other people's. By far the 
 wiser course, in my opinion, would be to make it obliga- 
 tory on every trainer or jockey who owns even a hair in a 
 horse's tail, to run that horse in his own name. We 
 should know then openly what we were doing, and those 
 who employed such interested people would know what 
 they were about. It would open the profession to fresh 
 aspirants, and honest men would have a chance. 1 do not 
 believe in repression. It has failed to put down Nihilism. 
 The turf is sick, and wants fresh air. 
 
 Let us breathe the purer atmosphere of the hunting- 
 field. To begin with, I must hark back to Saturday 
 week, when thtit inopportune worry in Ash Withybed 
 sent me back to Whitchurch, sore at heart. Ash Wood, 
 in its remotest corner, it seems, had a redeeming feature 
 — a fox with a strong mind, that soon put some big 
 pastures, Shavington way, between himself and the pack, 
 and a splendid gallop resulted over a line not excelled in 
 any country — four miles to the wall — like pigeons — 
 through the Park to Adderley. and then, with the aid of 
 an empty stoaiach, he managed to circle back via 
 Wilkesley, and gain Ash, 15() yards in front of the 
 leading hound . A proud performance that gave him his life 
 and reputation. He had dusted his opponents for more than 
 an hour, over eleven miles of country, which only men with 
 second horses could give an account of. Sir Watkin will 
 be lucky if a better day is recounted this season.* 
 
 Monday at Loppington is not a long story. A brace 
 were at home at Broughton Gorse, one of which slipped 
 across the railway for Besford Hill, and was soon lost. 
 Preston Spirngs was the home of another, who, after much 
 persuasion, crossed the Roden, and went to Soulton Wood, 
 
 • A fox, believed to be this one, Avas found dead two fields on the oi.her side 
 of Ash Wood, a few days after this great run. 
 
26 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 and then to the Lower Heath and was lost — not an 
 exciting day. 
 
 Tuesday. By way of changing the venue, Borderer 
 found himself in South Herefordshire, at Abbeydore 
 Court. Captain Freke Lewis hunts his own hounds, 
 while his partner Mr. Harold Helme, keeps watch over 
 the field. A wolfish-looking fox was at once found in 
 Gilbert's Hill that defied the pack from morn till night. 
 Your readers would be little the wiser at hearing the 
 country we traversed. It will sufiice, therefore, to say that 
 "Newbarns and Whitfield were visited, then Gilbert's Hill 
 again, and out towards Whitfield ; then over the Here- 
 ford and Abergavenny KailwdV, nearly to Kenchurch, 
 back to Pontrilas, and then, treading every dingle and 
 difficulty he could discver, brought us at 4-30 p.m., to 
 St. Devereux Station, where, in a spinney, we had to leave 
 him quitr! beaten — a tiring day for all. The houuds 
 hunted steadily and perseveringly throughout, and the 
 master showed a patient knowledge of his work that will 
 ensure him sport before the season is much older. 
 
 On Wednesday, the Shropshire met at Wroxeter Ruins. 
 On the same day, the Roman Hounds threw off among the 
 ruins on the Campagna ! Perhaps here the similarity 
 ends, for the latter had no Attingham to draw, and no 
 worthy like Lord Berwick to find them a good fox in his 
 laurels. Those who went to enjoy a gallop round the 
 Park, after the cub-hunting fashion of their last day, were 
 quickly out of their reckoning, for to-day the scene was 
 changed, and that speedily, for quitting the Park, our 
 fox put his head straight for the Wrekin, and, for the 
 second time this season, this fine bit of country was en- 
 joyed. The pace was not first-rate, yet Thatcher mauaged 
 to hunt him prettily, not only up to the wood, but right 
 over its top, to ground on the other side, which i^art of 
 the performance few cared to see, since climbing hills is 
 not a strong point in a modern Shropshire field's tactics. 
 
 Friday, with the Shropshire, at High Ercall, is always 
 a big gathering — the country good, and the meet 
 popular. A nice hunting day, too, but the one desidera- 
 tum was wanting — a fox. The Marie, Eowton, and 
 Forester's plantation, all blank. At last, at Rodington, 
 they found one. The hounds got away at his brush, and 
 raced him so hard to the Marie, that all the steam was out 
 of him, and he preferred to die there rather than face the 
 
BcJicarsal of Corbet's run from Marhurij Merc. 27 
 
 open ajjjLiin. Poynton Springs produced a ringing beggar 
 that know no country beyond Shawbury Heath, or, if he 
 did, ventured no further, and was left to learn better 
 ways. 
 
 Saturday, at Whitchurch, Sir Watkin had, if anything, 
 a bigger field than ever. How the record of a good day 
 draws, alas ! only to deceive. Hinton and Peeie's Gorse 
 had been overrun by Mr. Corbet the day before (by way 
 of retaliation, it would almost seem, for our having 
 poached on his country the previous week), so we did not 
 wonder at having a blank draw here. It was sadly too 
 soon to call on Ash again, and yet it had to be done, 
 because there was a shooting party at Cloverley in a few 
 days, and this shut up Styche from us. To be sure there 
 was the account of the brilliant afternoon run of Mr. 
 Corbet's the day before to listen to, while all this fruitless 
 work of drawing was being done. How from Marbury 
 Mere covert they had run straight past Baddily and 
 Kavensmoor Windmill, killing in the open at some place 
 beyond this, of which I failed to get the name, a nine- 
 mile point straight — the run of the season so far — the 
 last part of which the Master nearly missed through 
 getting down. Luckily good and trusty friends were at 
 hand, and a favouring bend put him in his right place 
 again. To return now to our own doings. 
 Brown's Moss of ancient renown was a dernier 
 resort. Nothing but a bare common, watery in places, 
 with a stunted gorse bush here and there. Hounds and 
 horsemen had spread themselves over it in vain, Goodall 
 had blown his horn at the far end, when, out of a small 
 half-burnt bush, popped a fox, right among the rear 
 guard of the field. A fine fellow he looked too, as he 
 charged gallantly through them. For a minute or two 
 it was difficult to say who were the leaders of the chase, 
 men or hounds. So mixed and so exciting was the scene 
 that hounds could not settle on him till he took to the 
 fields on the right. Some small enclosures gave them 
 room, and in three minutes we were on Whitchurch Heath, 
 racing away in dangerous proximity with rabbit holes to 
 Twemlows — a turn there, and the fox almost in their 
 gaws, A check, and a rabbit hole, end hopes. A beauti- 
 ful day condensed into twelve minutes' enjoyment. 
 
^8 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 EIGHTH WEEK— December 15 to 20. 
 
 My budg-et is condensed into one run. Stapleton 
 Village, on Wednesday, welcomed the Slircpsliire, but all 
 the coverts tliereabonts, iaclnding Netley and Lytli Hill, 
 failed to produce a fox. Bomere was a last resort. It 
 had not held a fox this season, and many a Lng sigh was 
 heard as each likely side was drawn, and still no sign of 
 a fox. Thatcher had. raised his horn, and was actually 
 beginning to blow a final blast, proclaiming the day a 
 blank one, when our old led-coated runner, in a short cut 
 for home, stumbled upon a fox curled up in a bush. 
 " Taliy-ho ! " shouted he, with his best lungs, and back 
 rushed llie pack. For a moment he was in the middle of 
 them — in the next he was away for Betton, and the 
 hounds in the same field with him. With such a start, 
 how could there fail to be high pressure on all sides? 
 Skirting the coppice, he turned short to the right, 
 parallel with the Wenlock road, and crossed the Con- 
 dover Brook, close to the iron bridge. Then over a sticky 
 line to Cantlop^ and leaving the Pitchford coverts on his 
 left, it was a rare treat to see hounds racing away, and 
 a select few doing their level lest to be with them. 
 Falls had already thinned them, but a soldier, and one 
 hailing Wroxeter way, were cutting out the work, and the 
 latter did the Pitchford brook gallantly. The line was 
 now near the Brick Kiln, and, leaving Frodesley village 
 on the left, took a straight course to Lawley, where the 
 shades of evening were closing so fast that Thatcher 
 began to blow his horn. Not yet, however, to be denied, 
 on went the flving pack right over the Caradoc, and 
 were with difficulty stopped literally in the dark — 52 
 minutes without check. An eight-mile point, and hounds 
 22 miles from their kennels, which they did not reach till 
 10-20 p.m., speaks for itself of the goodness of this wild 
 fox that Bomere had afforded us. There was a vast 
 amount of grief. One who does not usually tumble, being 
 down twice ; both the whips had falls, and at least half 
 a dozen others have similar cause to remember the day. 
 One good wild fox like this is w^orth half a hundred bad 
 ones. 
 
 Friday brought nothing but disaj^pointment. Hard- 
 wicke Grange is so central that a large £eld turned up, 
 and everybody knows how keen Mr. Bibby is in the good 
 cause. Still, sometimes it is not for mortals to command 
 
DisaiJi)ointment at Battlefield. 29 
 
 success, and it was, perhaps, some consolation to him to 
 know that his neighbours did no better, for G-rinshill, 
 Acton Reynald, and Shawbury shared the same fate. 
 There must be something wrong in the eai'th-stopping 
 department hereabouts, as I will not believe that this 
 district is foxless. 
 
 On Saturday a large field turned up at Whitchurch, 
 only to be condemned to a day in the Fens ! Some hitch 
 had occurred about drawing Styche, of which it is difficult 
 to make out the rights. The owners of Styche are waiting 
 to shoot their coverts until the hounds have drawn them, 
 while those at Cloverley adjoining, are closed from an 
 opposite cause, the upshot being that we ran for three 
 fields to Fenn's Bank to ground. Then hunted a 
 miserable little cub in the mazes of the Fens for a few 
 minutes, killed, and went home thinking that the 
 Whitchurch days that we had been accustomed to enjoy 
 were very unlike this one. 
 
 NINTH WEEK— December 22 to 27. 
 
 Frozen-out foxhunters are certainly a degree better 
 than frozen-out gardeners. The former do not sing quite 
 such doleful ditties as the poor make-believe gardeners 
 do, and yet the sporting historian at Battlefield, on Box- 
 ing Day, would have to be blind or deaf to truth and 
 honesty were he not to record a tale of great disappoint- 
 ment. Nothing shows the bent of a people's mind more 
 than its way of employing a holiday. From schoolboy 
 days we know how we looked forward to a set holiday, 
 and decided how we should spend it, according to the 
 truest bent of our mind, and so it was with the Shrews- 
 bury people to-day. They trooped along to Battlefield in 
 their hundreds. The line of carriages reached for a mile 
 on the road, and horsemen might have been counted 
 at more than a hundred ; some had come from afar, and 
 all with the certain assurance that hunting would be the 
 business of the day. Eleven-thirty and twelve o'clock 
 came, and yet no Thatcher, no [hounds, no message, no 
 hope ! Every adjoining field was tried, and pronounced 
 excellent going. Still disappointment reigned supreme, 
 and the Boxing Day of 1884 had to be written down as a 
 
80 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 decided sell. I must say that not having sent forward a 
 whip with a message, nor having brought the hounds for 
 exercise, the roads being excellent going, was inexcusable 
 in a well-ordered county like Shropshire, and I hardly 
 wondered at the multitude of bitter words that were 
 uttered against Thatcher on this account. More than 
 this, I will say that hunting at Battlefield was not only 
 feasible, but essentially warrantable had hounds come ; 
 at least so said everyone with whom Borderer came in 
 contact. 
 
 Tide week, however, has had its redeeming feature. 
 Wednesday, at Acton Burnell, with more frost in the 
 ground than to-day, the hounds came, much to the de- 
 light of Sir Frederick and Lady Smythe, and a very fair 
 field. How beautiful the old ruins looked, with a gleam 
 of sunshine breaking on them about 11-30, and how 
 cheerily we cantered through the park after wishing its 
 good owner a happy Christmas over a nip of sherry, just 
 enough to warm us, and make us cast a hopeful eye on 
 the Park Wood, as we entered it from its lowest end. 
 Hounds worked carefully through it, and had just finished 
 to all appearance their task when there was a holloa to- 
 wards the Obelisk Plantation ; a brace of foxes had gone 
 away, and the hounds immediately settled nicely on one 
 of them that left the Obelisk on his left, pointing for 
 Frodesley. There was evidently a scent, and they ran 
 merrily up the hill to the plantation, through it and 
 slanting still to the right over the next high ground, one 
 other dip, and we were rising again to Plaish Hall, and 
 making up oar minds for a good thing. The Vale below 
 was bounded by the Edge Wood, and Longville-in-the- 
 Dale lay in front of us, but, alas for human hopes ! 
 Nearer at hand were a couple of hard-frozen ploughed 
 fields that utterly refused to give us any scent. The 
 hounds threw up. The first whip cast" them well to the 
 left, but our fox was no doubt forward, and Thatcher 
 appearing on the scene, shook his head at the rattle under 
 his horse's feet and gave it up — twenty- two minutes of 
 really fast going, which, but for this contretemps, might 
 have been a brilliant run. If we could have carried the 
 line for another field or two we might have been on the 
 grass again with nothing to stop us short of the Edge 
 Wood. Pitchford Big Wood, and home, wound up our 
 day. 
 
Nimrod at Acton Burndl. 31 
 
 It is sixty years ago since Nimi'od ^v^ote : ** After 
 hunting, Sir Bellingham and myself dined at Acton 
 Burnell, which was the fixture for the next morning. 
 This is the fine seat of my very old friend, Sir Edward 
 Smythe, and who hunted Shropshire for six seasons. A 
 more jovial fellow is not to be found in his Majesty's 
 dominions. Though this worthy baronet has plenty of 
 game, he is a strict preserver of foxes, and generally 
 finds a good one. The day I am speaking of did not 
 prove an exception. We found in the park, and after 
 upwards of two hours through a deep and clistressing 
 country, lost him by a holloa from a keeper, who thought 
 he had marked him to ground. At the second check, I 
 heard Sir Bellingham say we had been running him an 
 hour and ten minutes, quite enough for the country we 
 w^ent over. I witnessed on this run what I never saw 
 before, viz., three gentlemen riding at gates, and without 
 their horses falling, tumbling over their heads. The trio 
 was composed of Mr. Bryne, a friend of Sir Edward 
 Smythe's, but a native of the sister kingdom ; Mr. Eock^ 
 a very thrusting young one ; and Mr. Mytton ! Mr. Bryne, 
 I was told, was determined never to be so served again, 
 as he went to a brook and wetted the knees of his 
 breeches, to enable him to stick to his saddle ! I never 
 heard of this experiment before, but, as far as I am a 
 judge, there is only one other step to be taken with the 
 breeches ! " 
 
 Nimrod also speaks of an excellent run from Pitch ford 
 Park of an hour and twenty minutes, when Mr. Mytton 
 and a good field were present, and Sir Bellingham rode 
 a horse of Captain Gordon's that carried him very well. 
 Perhaps history may repeat itself here also ! I find two 
 most interesting accounts of Sundorne and the Corbets, 
 of which more anon. 
 
 Those were jolly times, that it does a hunting man's 
 heart good to go back to occasionally ; and if this frost 
 continues, or if the Shropshire huntsman is disposed to 
 linger longer over his cosy fire, I must fallback on these 
 old stories of Nimrod's, some of which may be half 
 forgotten, or, perhaps, never well enough digested by 
 the present generation. I have something to say, too, 
 by way of advice on the present system of earth-stopping 
 in the county, but it will not do to close the year with 
 one long howl of grumble. We have much to be thank- 
 
32 HUNTING AND SPOBT ING NOTES. 
 
 fill for, and much that less favoured counties long for 
 in vain. Here's health and happiness, for many a year 
 to come, to " All Eound the Wrekin " who do honour 
 to two of the blessings of life, ** Horses and Hounds." 
 
 TENTH WEEK— December 29 to January 3, 1885. 
 
 The renewal of the lease of Shrewsbury race-ground is 
 still an unsettled matter. Here is a fine open space con- 
 veniently situated for a population of nearly 30,000 
 people. Here are the stands and all the other appliances 
 of sport. Adjoining it are the nicest meadows, with per- 
 fect fences for steepleehasing, which can, I know, be 
 had for the purpose when required. What is to prevent 
 the formation of a steeplechase, hunt, and general sport- 
 ing club to rent this ground ? A finer natural steeple- 
 chase course could not be found anywhere. Shrewsbury 
 is a splendid centre for the purpose. I have already 
 heard of some good supporters of such a scheme as this, 
 and it is one that will win the smiles of the county 
 families once more if properly taken up. In addition to 
 this, an athletic club is being seriously discussed in 
 Shrewsbury, and where could they find a better locale 
 than here, where, without in the least interfering with 
 each other, biped and quadruped could share the gallop- 
 ing ground paid contribute to the expense, profit, and 
 amusement of the club aud its patrons ? It onlv requires 
 a few able, active, and influential sportsmen to see into 
 this matter, and bring it to a successful termination. 
 
 What can I say of hunting while we are smartnig under 
 the bite of this " shaving " north-easter ? I am told that 
 the Shropshire went to Shawbury on Tuesday, and found 
 in the Old Pool, near Wytheford, running prettily to 
 Ercall, where they either lost or ran to ground. And that 
 again, on Wednesday, they braved the elements (Sir 
 Wat Lin s did not show up at Ruyton on Tuesday). The 
 Shropshire found a fox at Loton Park — ran him away 
 sharply towards the Breiden, and back to Loton, and 
 killed him in tw^enty-five minutes — no find Eowton or 
 Bickley way afterwards. I, C7ini multis aliin^ st lyed at 
 home, thinking hounds would not go, and not relishing 
 a nine-mile ride with disappointment at the end of it. 
 Of course we growled at our own pusillanimity, and swore, 
 
Old iStories re-told. 33 
 
 at any risk, tha' we would go to Leaton Knolls on Friday, 
 but, alas, such a frost as came on Thursday night drove 
 even tliis last bit of pluck out of us. 
 
 All will regret to bear that Thatcher's wife is very ill, 
 and tliis prevented his coming out on Wednesday ; per- 
 haps, too, it had much to do with the non-appearance of 
 the hounds on Friday, at Battlefield. 
 
 Here is a leaf out of old records, to wliile away this 
 interregnum of frost that 1885 lias brought us. 
 
 On the first of August, 1824, it is recorded that a meet- 
 ing was held to establish a pack of hounds in the central 
 part of Shropshire, '■ which had long been thought 
 desirable as an inducement to country gentlemen to reside 
 among their tenantry, and to expend their incomes at 
 home." A subscription was therefore got up privately, 
 and the Shrewsbury tradesmen were called upon to aid it. 
 It was the hope of the committee on that occasion that a 
 county kennel should be established on Kingsland, and 
 the outcome of this plucky endeavour was crowned with 
 the gre.ttest success, as Sir Bellingham Graham was 
 induced to leave Leicestershire, where he was a leading 
 spirit, and take the Shropshire county. He rented Mr. 
 Loxdale's house, upon Kingsland. 
 
 IVimrod graphically describes his visit to Shropshire 
 and Sir Bellingham in particular, " I found him, " he says, 
 " not in the most comfortable situation I ever found him 
 in. He was sitttng half asleep by his fireside, having, for 
 the first time in his life, entirely lost his hounds, and 
 missed one of the finest runs they had. had foi' a long time. 
 The fact was they had slipped away down wind at a ripping 
 pace, and taking a severe country, all against the collar, 
 his chance of catching them was at an end, so he came 
 home." The next day was the dinner of " The Shropshire 
 Huiit, " at the Lion Hotel, with Sir Rowland Hill as the 
 president, and a sumptuous affair it was, the evening being 
 spent in the usual convivial style of that day. Their first 
 day's hunting was at the Fox, on the Ellesmere Road. 
 A frost that made the fallows a little hard, but they had 
 a sharp burst of twenty five minutes, and lost by an 
 untoward check. Nimrod was much struck with the 
 workmanship of a youth of fourteen, the son of a. 
 Shropshire yeoman, the nephew of a Mr. Stejjhen Matthews, 
 himself a capital performer, "and I vt-ntured to tell him 
 his nephew will make a first rate performer. " After 
 
34 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES, 
 
 liunting came another hunt dinner, when, *' towards the 
 heel of the evenmg a storm arose, and slugs in a sawpit, 
 instead of foxhunting, was to have been the order of the 
 day on the forthcoming day. I was sorry, for fighting 
 and foxhunting are very opposite pursuits, and Euripides 
 observes that Mars, though a favourite with Yenus, is 
 never seen in company with Bacchus." 
 
 On Thursday, the fifth of January, Sir Bellingham met 
 at Sundorne, the seat of the late Mr Corbet, who for so 
 many years hunted Warwickshire. 
 
 " We found immediately, and went very sharply to 
 Haman (sic) Hill, where, under the shelf of the precij^ice, 
 the pack divided, and, unseen by everybody but the first 
 whip, all but six couples and a half went away to Attingham 
 with a fresh fox. Strange to say, we ran the hunted fox 
 for more than an hour with these six and a half couples 
 through the long chain of coverts, and there is no doubt 
 but that we should have killed him had we not changed 
 again. The scent was a burning one. 
 
 " An opportunity was afforded me of helping a brother 
 sportsman in distress. That first-rate horseman, Mr. 
 George Forester, was by the covert side, but by some 
 means or other disapj^ointed of his horse. Having two 
 out, I mounted him upon one of them, and he did me the 
 honour to say he was never better carried. I also had the 
 gratification of mounting the third son of Mr. Corbet, 
 now at Eton, and if we could have had a splitter, I have 
 reason to believe he would have shoved the little mare 
 over the country at a wonderful rate. 
 
 " Sir Bellingham and myself dined that night at 
 Sundorne Castle, whence we j^roceeded to the ball, 
 had not set my foot in this splendid mansion (certainly 
 one of the finest places in England) since the days of that 
 justly esteemed sportsman who so many years possessed 
 it, and whose memory — not only as a sportsman — is so 
 dear to his friends. Some alterations have certainly taken 
 place, produced by the sweeping hand o time. Instead 
 of the sixty couples of the blood of the Trojans, with 
 Will Barrow at their head, the kennel contains a small 
 pack of harriers kept by the present Mr. Corbet. Fuit 
 Iliu7n, et ingeiis gloria tcttcrum. — ' The glory of Troy is 
 no'more, and Will Barrow is dead.' " Mr. Corbet was 
 called " The father of the Trojans," in allusion to the 
 many sons of his celebrated hound, Trojan, that he bred. 
 
ShrcivshtiryJRaccs. ■ 85 
 
 Trojan's picture still hangs on the wall at Sundorno, and 
 will well rej^ay a sportsman's visit, Mr. Dry den Corbet 
 will, I am sure, allow it to be inspected. Will Barrow, 
 tbe huntsman, was a character of his day. After his 
 death, there was discovered in boxes, in old stockings, and 
 in all sorts of queer places, a sum of ^1,400, besides suits 
 of clothes sufficient for a parish. Never was such a clear 
 case of the love of the proverbial " stocking." He might 
 have taken a farm, or put his money out at interest, but 
 he could not tear himself away from the old saddle-room 
 at Sundorne. That night was a merry one at Sundorne, 
 for Nimrod concludes his account of it thus : — 
 
 " As a proof of our mirth, Mrs. Corbet told me with 
 the greatest good humour, that since she had been a.t 
 Sunclorne she had never heard the sound of voices from 
 the dining-room to the drawing-room before that day ; 
 but the fact was, that when any good anecdote was 
 related of a spoiting nature, one of the young Trojans 
 (there were four in the room), would put his finger to his 
 ear and cheer it with a holloa that made the old castle 
 ring." 
 
 ELEVENTH WEEK— January 5 to 10. 
 
 Eacing and steeplechasing are dried up and frozen 
 out subjects just now, and the number of entries for the 
 spring handicaps do not bring encouragement for the 
 coming year. The subject of Shrewsbury races was 
 ventilated last week, at a public meeting, in not a highly- 
 becoming way — the teetotallers choosing it as their field 
 day. Joking apart, it is hardly on such grounds as these, 
 we opine, that this old country meeting is destined to 
 continue, or become abated. Granted, that racing, as it 
 is carried on at present, has lost much of its local charm, 
 does less for the improvement of the local breed of 
 horses, and draws together fewer notables of a neigh- 
 bourhood. Is racing, combined with steeplechasing and 
 hunters' races, on this account, to be altogether eschewed 
 by the respectability of the county ? Is nothing to be 
 done in a county like Salop to rescue a national 
 pastime from the hands of the destroyer? If so, the 
 
86 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 day of our effeminacy and weakness have begun. Are 
 we afraid to touch a difficult question, because the water- 
 drinkers say it is dehhng ? Ere long, let us hope that 
 the Jockey Club, or the racing authorities of the future, 
 w^hoever they may be, will wake up to the error of their 
 ways, and give a helping hand to such a meeting as 
 Shrewsbury. Let it not then be said, " Oh, it is too 
 late now, the course has been ploughed up for market 
 gardens." 
 
 1 fear we must write down the past week, from a hunt- 
 ing point of view, as a fitful and disappointing one. On 
 Monday, with Sir Watkin's, at "West Felton, there is not 
 much to be said by those who were there, and foxes were 
 not so plentiful as usual thereabouts ; while at Ellerton 
 Hall, with the Shropshire, foxes were plentiful, and 
 scent was deficient. 
 
 On Tuesday, Mr. Corbet did not put in an appearance 
 at Wilkesley. 
 
 On Wednesday, at Cressage, it was past mid-day before 
 it was deemed prudent to make a start, and then it was 
 indifferent " going." Cressage Park, Ford's Coppice, 
 Kenley G-orse, and the Harnage Coverts were all drawn 
 blank, but a fox was eventually found in Steven's Hill, 
 that ran to the Golding Coverts, and on to Eaton Mascott, 
 where we went to ground, and Thatcher was last seen 
 determined on digging him out. Surely foxes are not too 
 plentiful about there. 
 
 On I'hursday I determined on a change of venue, 
 having more than once been baulked in a determination 
 to have a day with the Albrighton. Stafford Castle, and 
 a hospitable friend close by, could not not be resisted.. 
 On Wednesday night, the odds were against hunting at 
 all, but the morning revealed a change. The most 
 cutting south wind swept over the country that 
 it has ever been my lot to encounter, and by eleven o'clock 
 an icy rain added its accompaniment to the 
 delights of a hunting morning. There were 
 plenty of stout hearts in Stafford trudging out to the 
 meet, nevertheless, a few carriages, and a small field, 
 mostly farmers. The master and Lady Bough ey were 
 soon there, and it was evident that something in the shape 
 of a bit of silver was to be presented to somebody, for 
 out of somebody's capacious pocket came a big cup, 
 which was handed to Sir Thomas Boughey, and by him 
 
Presentation to Mr. Wriglit. 37 
 
 presented to Mr. Wriglit, late of Coppenliall, a farmer, 
 who for many years has been a most loyal snpporter of 
 foxhuLting;, has kept a gorse on his farm well preserved 
 for hunting purposes, and has always ridden to hounds 
 in the most orthodox fashion. Sir Thomas did full justice 
 to his theme in a few appropriate words, and a fine old 
 specimen of an English yeoman responded with equal 
 happiness. Three cheers were thoughtlessly given for 
 the master and the recipient of the cup, Vvrhich were too 
 much for the composure of the j)ack (the dogs, by the 
 bye, that I admired very much), for they dashed away 
 from Scott, and made for a worry of the cup ; horse's heels 
 went up ominously, and the whips feared for their 
 charges, but happily no serious damage was done. 
 " Hounds, please, gentlemen ; " it was time to move off, 
 and draw the plantation round the castle, where no fox 
 was at home. A trot to Bury Eing, a mile or so away, 
 soon revealed the fact that foxes were at hand. One 
 raced round the covert, with the hounds in view of him, 
 and if anything pointed to a run this did, as he broke to 
 the west, with the hounds close to him over the grass. 
 Alas, after three fields, it was evident that our hopes 
 were not to be realised to-day, for scent was fickle. The 
 going, too, was not trustworthy. A young lady at the 
 third fence, had a narrow escape, her horse slipping up 
 on landing, and falling quite six yards from the fence ; 
 luckily, however, without rolling over, and, with quiet 
 composure, she never left the saddle ! We now found 
 ourselves close to the Shrewsbury and Stafford Eailway, 
 near Haughton, w^hen he swung round to the right, and 
 they ran merrily for a few fields up wind, between the 
 castle and the covert where we had found him, and 
 crossed the main road, making our spirits rise, as they 
 pointed Coppenliall way, only, however, to see them 
 check again very soon, and our good fox had to be given 
 up near Butterhill. . 
 
 The Whittimores Vv^as the next draw, and a lovely covert 
 this is, quite a gem for any country short of the shires. A 
 gorse, in its prime of growth, lying snugly in the midst of 
 a wide open country, with plenty of hairy fences to make 
 it not quite plain sailing, and a stiff soil to hold a scent. 
 Five minutes sufficed for a challenge, and, in two more, 
 a fox was viewed away on the Penkridge side. *' Now 
 for a gallop at all events," hounds flew to the horn, 
 
 Dl 
 
38 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 and never had a better start over the road poiiitmg for 
 railway, but not one field consecutively could they carry 
 the miserable scent they were favoured with. 'Tis 
 true that Scott hunted him meritoriously over the rail- 
 way and road to Dunstor., to within a field of the Eiver 
 Penk, opposite Teddersley Park, whither, if our fox 
 wandered, he was in the South Staffordshire country. 
 Up to this time, half past two p.m., the rain had been 
 relentless, and, with very few dry spaces on our shivering 
 bodies, we trotted off, as gaily as we could, to Stretton, 
 where, much to Mr. Monckton's disappointment, a fox 
 was wanting, and, the day over, only such a one as 
 made me long for another, and a better chance of 
 seeing sport over this very nice side of the country. 
 "Whether any changes will take place in the hunting 
 of the Albrighton country it is perhaps premature to 
 conjecture. Sir Thomas Boughey is going to live at 
 Aqualate, an impossible distance from the Worcester- 
 shire side of the country. It is probable, therefore, 
 that if he is prevailed upon to continue the master- 
 ship after this season, it will be on the understanding 
 that the W^orcestershire side of the country should be 
 severed, at all events for the present. A three day a week 
 country might yet remain quite sufficient for all sporting 
 purposes. Sir Thomas has had a reign of twenty years, I 
 think, and has scored a splendid success. The country is 
 indebted to him for the energy, tact and discretion, with 
 which he has guided the ship. His has been by no means 
 a bed of roses — with very high game preserving in his 
 very midst — with Lilleshall and Woodcote wholly devoted 
 to pheasants, and with Weston partially so, he has found 
 in the farmers and occupiers of land the true backbone of 
 the hunt, and on them he has sought reliance, and not 
 sought it in vain. That they will rally to the cry of "the 
 Albrighton hunt," in spite of every drawback, I do not 
 hesitate to say. It is indeed time that the selfishness of 
 those in high places was tempered by the breeze that 
 is blowing in their faces. 
 
 On Friday I did not think it would be practicable at 
 Wem Station for the Shropshire to hunt. They did, how- 
 ever — drew Broughton Gorse blank, and so on to Soulton 
 Wood, by which time the going was better, but still 
 treacherous. Here they found what proved to be a good 
 fox. He broke at once on the Wem side, across the 
 
Maesfen — Digging out at Cressage. 39 
 
 black boggy meadows fast to Frees, over the railway, to 
 ground, near Coton Hall, in twenty-five miimtes. Not a 
 bad line, and for those who hardened their hearts, a 
 successful gallop. 
 
 On Saturday, Sir Watkin once more opened the ball 
 on his Whitchurch side at Maesfen, but had to encounter 
 one of the roughest possible days, which of course 
 militated against sport. There is certainly a continually 
 recurring game of cross purposes between Sir Watkin and 
 Mr. Corbet this season hereabouts, each having in turn 
 disturbed the other's country. To-day Mr. Corbet chose 
 a bye day in coverts hard by Sir Watkin's draw — a piece 
 of bad taste surely ! but worse still was the form dis- 
 played by several of the so-called Sir Watkinites, in 
 leaving their own hunt, and filing off to join the 
 Corbetites ! 
 
 What could aiore clearly show the growing peripateti- 
 cism of the hunting men of to-day than this ? Looking at 
 the loyal way in which Sir Watkin hunts this Whit- 
 church side of his country, sparing no expense or trouble 
 to show sport, it does seem extraordinary that he should 
 be treated by even one of his numerous field in such a 
 way ! Truly the patriotism of the old days is departing, 
 and I cannot refrain from dropping a tear over it. 
 
 P.S. — I have since heard that Thatcher finished up 
 the Cressage day with a two hours' dig, and murdered 
 what was thought to be a fresh fox from Golding's 
 coppice, in spite of the protestations of his field. This 
 covert is close to Pitchford property, and the news will 
 not be very pleasing to Colonel Cotes, who is so anxious 
 to show sport, and has been so unlucky about having 
 finds there this season. The fact is, that south of the 
 river, Thatcher is king, lords, and commons in the 
 absence of the master, and I know I am expressing a 
 very general opinion that Mr. Lonsdale would be doing 
 the right thing in appointing a deputy, to whom such 
 a question as this, and the drawing of coverts, might 
 with propriety be left. 
 
40 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 TWELFTH WEEK— January 12 to 17. 
 
 Tlie perusal of the Spring Handicaps will throw a little 
 life into the turf world. The new handicaps at New- 
 market have not quite received sufficient patronage to 
 entitle them to reach the ^1,000 added money. Perhaps, 
 however, the Jockey Club will be generous. The City 
 and Suburban is the most noticeable in its falling-off of 
 entries. This can scarcely be wondered at, seeing that 
 Epsom has failed to go with the times in the matter of 
 added money. The Grand National once again rears its 
 head more proudly, with an increased entry of nineteen. 
 It is made up of a mixed lot. There are three previous 
 winners engaged — Seaman, Zoedone, and Voluptuary, of 
 which the last reads likely to be dangerous again. There 
 are plenty of novices engaged — many of them Irishmen — 
 Ben More, Ivanhoe, and Etonian being the best class of 
 the fresh names of English horses. Little Pink 'Un, of 
 Tarporley and Bangor fame, is among the entries, but 
 surely she can scarcely aspire to figure successfully over 
 Aintree. If so, sad indeed must be the deterioration of 
 our steeplechase horses ! Next week we will dissect this 
 interesting problem a little more carefully. Shrewsbury 
 races have, I am led to believe, more chances of revival 
 than ever, and I was not wrong in predicting that such 
 an old country gathering would not be allowed to die like 
 a do^ in a ditch for want of a little well-directed pluck at 
 the eleventh hour. 
 
 As to hunting — it has been a case of another broken 
 week. Frost unexpectedly put down its iron foot on 
 Monday — not sufficiently, however, to stop Sir Watkin at 
 Socket Gate. Goodall came on to Petton, where Mr. 
 Sparling, as usual, found him no end of foxes — four 
 brace at least in one or other of the snug spinoies 
 thereabouts. One of them became a victim, and the rest 
 live to fight another day. What is more satisfactory, 
 however, only one quadruped, Captain Whitmore's 
 favourite old horse, broke its back during the dangerous 
 process of pursuit. 
 
 Tuesday and Thursday were given up to dancing — on 
 the former day at Berwick, where everything was de- 
 lightful, I believe, and on the latter day at the Music 
 Hall, where the Young Hunt did its best to make every- 
 thing charming and biilliant. Here, too, success beyond 
 precedent smiled upon the scarlet runners, who rattled 
 
The Bcrioich Day, by a friend. 41 
 
 away to tbeir heart's content, regardless of frost and the 
 troubles and difficulties of foxhunting-. Hunt Clubs are 
 verily a Godsend to the matres famUiarum and dancers 
 in general, even if they do not cast an segis of protection 
 over foxhunting generally. Let us hope and believe that 
 they do. Berwick on Friday was destined to dis- 
 apppoint its votaries. The bone in the ground was still 
 there, and Mr. Lonsdale acted wisely in postponing until 
 Saturday the wished-for sport. Such a tempting day, 
 too, it turned out ! Such a lamb-like east wind, and such 
 soft snowstorms, gently stealing over the heated plain. 
 Borderer was too much liors de combat to encounter 
 such a day, and is indebted to a friend for the following 
 description. Mr. Arthur LLoyd not only found them 
 plenty of foxes, but the afternoon gentleman must have 
 been no ordinary customer, for he travelled over a 
 tremendous lot of ground, and fairly earned his victory 
 at last. 
 
 " After being regaled at a princely breakfast, we all 
 started, full of hope, from Berwick, and proceeded at 
 once, for it was already past mid- day, to draw our old 
 favourite — Hencote Pool. 
 
 " To everyone's grief and astonishment, it was drawn 
 blank, so we retraced our steps over the railway to the 
 Berwick road, and began to draw the never-failing 
 Leaton Knolls. 
 
 " Before five minutes were over we found, and the fox, 
 breaking cover, crossed the Berwick road, and made, as 
 it seemed, for some point on the other side of the railway. 
 
 " Strange to relate, we lost him before even reaching the 
 railway. Some say he doubled back — and this seems most 
 probable — others that he lay quiet and safe in a corner 
 of a covert near the railway, which certainly was never 
 properly drawn. 
 
 " Then we went back to Leaton Knolls, and there began 
 the old " see- saw " up and down the bank — it never 
 being quite certain whether we were after a new or the 
 same fox. At one time, we pushed one right out of 
 Leaton, along the river bank beyond Fitz Church, but 
 there lost him. While, however, we yet pondered 
 whether or no he had crossed the Severn on to the Isle, we 
 heard a holloaing half a mile behind again in the Leaton 
 coverts, and tally-ho'd back at once. 
 
 " Things now seemed more hopeful. The fox never 
 
42 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 crossed the road, wliicli, cutting the bank, runs between 
 Fitz and Leaton Church, and we pushed him out of covert 
 at last at about a quarter to three in the afternoon. 
 
 " He was viewed by a railway porter, crossing, in his 
 impudence, the very platform of Leaton Station itself, and 
 while horsemen crossed the line at the bridge, Reynard 
 took refuge in Mr. LLoyd's " privet," on the east side of 
 the rails. Here, consensu omnium, we changed our fox, 
 but our new friend showed himself to be an improvement 
 on the old, and gave us a run which will long be remem- 
 bered by all who followed him to the bitter end. 
 
 " He broke cover from Mr. LLoyd's privet at ten 
 minutes past three, and was run, with only one serious 
 check, till five o'clock. 
 
 *' He started on a northerly tack, as it seemed, for Pim 
 Hill, followed closely by the hounds, who, together with 
 horses and riders, rejoiced in a good run after their fort- 
 night's enforced inactivity. We ran a fair pace, without 
 any check of consequence, to Mr. Ey ton's small covert 
 between Pim Hill and Merrington. We all thought he 
 was then making for the hill, but Eeynard had apparently 
 a different design. 
 
 " We had one or two stiffish fences on the way. There 
 was one easy fence uphill, but with an unseen deep ditch 
 the other side. This led to a terrible catastrophe to a 
 smart young stranger mounted by a friend on rather a 
 groggy mare. Not being able to look before he leaped 
 he landed his mare half-in-half out of the ditch, and him- 
 self was sent bowling hcdd over heels (like a rabbit shot 
 dead in mid -career) in a heavy ploughed field. To give 
 our friend his due, he proved a plucky one, and he and 
 his mare stuck to it, when they joined company again, 
 till the very end. 
 
 " Well, leaving Pim Hill to the right, our fox veered 
 round a bit, and went over some heavy plough-land in 
 the hollow, keeping the Hollins to the left. There he 
 was pursued over low boggy land between Higher and 
 Lower Fennymere up to the long sedges on the south side 
 of Fennymere Pool. 
 
 "There is a well known boggy stream running from 
 south to north into the pool on its southern side, and a few 
 horsemen, knowing the coimtry, elected to avoid it, and 
 kept to the north side of the pool, on the chance of the 
 fox going on to Marton. 
 
The Berwick Day — A good run. 43 
 
 " Fortune favoured tliem, and the fox did go on to- 
 wards Marton — but meanwhile nine -tenths of the field 
 kept after the hounds to the south of the pool, crossing 
 by a bridge over the stream, about half a mile from its 
 mouth. Only one sportsman essayed the stream, which 
 has high banks, and is aljout twenty feet wide, but it is 
 very shallow. It was apparently not so boggy as it was 
 believed to be, and he waded safely through, but he lost 
 in time almost all he gained in the distance. 
 
 ' We all effected a junction at the farmhouse at the end 
 of Fennymere pool, and ran pretty fast across to Marton 
 Pool ; then uj) the hill side, leaving Marton Hall on our 
 right, the fox having been viewed but a minute before 
 crossing the road. 
 
 "• We then went up a deep cutting near the railway, 
 about a mile above Baschurch station, and then occurred 
 the longest check in the run. Many, thinking of their far- 
 off homes, and anxious for their jaded steeds (for though 
 the pace was slow, the countrv was very heavy, being both 
 boggy and saturated with wet, after rain) left us here ; 
 but the faithful few were rewarded by soon after hearing 
 a distant and most welcome " Holloa," near Stanwardine. 
 We at once crossed the railway bridge, and found our- 
 selves on the Boreatton estate, a strange place for the 
 Shropshire hounds, for, as all know, it is well in Sir 
 Watkin's country at this point. 
 
 " Excited yokels asseverated that the fox was close in 
 front, in spite of our long check, and we continued, at a 
 good pace, across some grass fields, till we came close to 
 Mr. Hunt's beagle kennels, which we left on our right. 
 
 " Eeynard was here either an exile from his own native 
 land, and consequently imaware how good a refuge he 
 had come upon, or was too done up to run through heavy 
 covert, for the hounds followed him on the outside of the 
 Moss, then across the Baschurch — Ruyton road, and 
 while they Y\^ere going full cry to the Perry, all sensible 
 riders crossed the stream by the Millford Mill bridge. 
 What followed was by far the prettiest part of the run. 
 We all kept on the high ground on the south bank, while 
 the hounds went a fine pace close along the left bank, till 
 they crossed to our side, about a quarter of a mile above 
 the little rickety hunting bridge, put up by some sporting 
 landowner in days gone by. 
 
 " We then followed the hounds to within a few hundred 
 
44 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 yards of Vales Wood, where there vras a brief and 
 -Qnaccountable check to which Eejnard probably owed 
 his life. 
 
 '' The shades of night were failing fast, it being a 
 quarter to five, and a cloudy evening, but Thatcher — who 
 had now fairly lost himself, but was directed by Mr, Darby 
 — tried the hounds along the Little Ness — Ruyton road, 
 on the chance of picking up the scent, if our friend had 
 really made for Vales Wood. Our bloodthirsty hopes 
 were once more raised, as the hounds spoke to him again, 
 in the hedge on the left hand side of tiie road at the top 
 of the hill near the Clife. They hunted him through 
 Vales Wood, and, though some few of us were terribly 
 " boffled" by a wire fence in the corner, which seemed to 
 have been the express invention of the Enemy, we at last 
 trampled it under our feet, and, getting out and crossing 
 the little sandy lane that turns up to the Clife, continued 
 the chase, leaving Nessclif: a quarter of a mile to our right. 
 But it was obvious to us all, that night would spread its 
 friendly wings to cover poor Reynard's retreat, and there 
 being then a slight check, Thatcher, discreet for his 
 hounds, and merciful to our gallant fox and our 
 exhausted horses, drew of£ on his weary tramp of sixteen 
 miles homewards. 
 
 '^Thus endel a run, remarkable, not for its pace, which 
 was, except along the Perry, singuhirly slow, the scent 
 being very bad on the ploughed land, but for the sure and 
 steady way in which the hounds hunted an apparently 
 inexhaustible fox, for the unusual time of exactly one 
 hour and fifty minutes." 
 
 No news of Sir Watkin's day at Garden has reached 
 me, bat I have a red-letter day to tell of with the Al- 
 brighton on Monday, from Church Eaton, which I must 
 reserve till next week. It is clear that Mr. Charles Morris, 
 of Oxton, has some good foxes at Wood Eaton as well as 
 about Bickley Wood, and as an ex-M.E.H., he still does 
 his best to keep up the noble sport on two sides of the 
 county. He was himself absent acting as High Sheriff 
 at Shrewsbury, but I know he will be pleased to hear that 
 his friends had two excellent runs, and werf very much 
 delighted at the way his good foxes ran. We are in for 
 some sport now, I am sure, if only the wind will keep 
 down in the south-east, with this moist atmosphere. 
 
 I ought to have mentioned that the Ludlow have been 
 covering themselves with glory. In fact, I know of no 
 
Church Eaton — The Alhrighton. 45 
 
 pack in Sliropsliire that has equalled them. A good New 
 Year's Day at Cajnham. A run from Pedwardine Wood 
 right into the Radnorshire comitry at Cwmgilla Wood. 
 A grand hunting run from Oaker Gorse to Croft, nearly to 
 Gatley, Birch'er Common, Orleton, to Eye Station, and 
 killed at Berrington, in North Hereford country ; and 
 since then I hear of a great day from Kyre, the particu- 
 lars of which are wanting. How delighted Mr Wicksted 
 must be that he has handed his horn to such a promising 
 young huntsman as Johnson, whom he is able to help in 
 eveiy way. I recommend my friends who are fond of 
 hounds to go and see the Ludlow. 
 
 THIRTEENTH WEEK— January 19 to 24. 
 
 The Earl of Wilton is no more — the gallant Grey de 
 Wilton of a few years back, who always held his own 
 over Leicestershire pastures. He has left no children 
 and rumour has it that Society ]3apers will astonish the 
 world with a romance of how his vast estates have passed 
 into the hands of a noted lawyer and coroner, who once 
 opposed Mr. Disraeli for Buckinghamshire, and how they 
 have been brought back again for a fabulous sum by the 
 family; but I must not rob Truth of such a sweet morsel. 
 
 We have had another broken week's hunting, and 
 much disappointment in the way of scent. Nevertheless 
 a bit of luck favoured some of us on Monday with the 
 Albrighton, at Church Eaton, about three miles on the 
 Penkridge side of Gnosall. Eather a select field turned 
 up, considering that this is undoubtedly their best 
 country. Rheule Coppice was our first draw, and it did 
 not keep us long in suspense, a fine dog fox going away 
 in good style, without any hesitation, over the London 
 and North Western Railway, and, leaving Gnosall on his 
 left, crossed Stafford and Newport main road on the 
 grass and took us over a pretty undulating line, with 
 plenty of jumping, and at a fair pace, through a country 
 I am guiltless of knowing. Then, dropping again into 
 the lower ground, we had some big fences and boggy 
 ditches in our line before we reached Knightley Grange. 
 Here the leading division pushed on through the wood, 
 just in time to see, as they supposed, the whole pack a 
 
46 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 long field aliead of them, so there was nothing left but to 
 set full sail in pursuit. On catching them we soon found 
 that we had only half the pack (ten-and-a-half couples), 
 but Scott was with us, and on we went at a fair hunting- 
 pace over an intricate country, which gradually led us 
 back to the railway opposite our starting point. The fox 
 had begun to run very short, and the scent become very 
 ticklish, when Scott landed in a ditch, from which he 
 could not extricate himself, and the run came to an end 
 close to Gnosall village — one hour and thirty minutes, 
 which might, but for the contretemps of the hounds 
 dividing, have ended in blood. There was nothing for it 
 but to return in search of the rest of the pack and half 
 our field. These we picked up Aqualate way, having been 
 running a twisting fox all round about Knightley, ever 
 since we left them, right glad they were to give him up, 
 and join us again. A move was then made for Cowley 
 Banks, by the side of the canal. Tallyho sounded here in 
 no time, and we raced away to Wood Eaton, and crossed 
 the Church Eaton Eoad in front of the house, down to 
 and through the treacherous brook by a friendly ford, as 
 if for E-heule, but leaving this on the left, tbe hounds 
 carried a beautiful head over a stiff line of country to 
 Barton, where, at the end of a delightful twenty-five 
 minutes, he popped into a drain. No wonder that the 
 pace and the country brought grief in plenty. There 
 were several empty saddles in the morning run, but now 
 there were more — a well-known welter tried the strength, 
 of his collar bone considerably, and a young cavalry man 
 had to pick himself up twice. It was now three o'clock in 
 the afternoon, and I had to catch a train, but t< the few 
 that stayed, the day was not over, for bolting him, or a 
 fresh one, they had a rattling gallop back to Kheule, and 
 from there to Haughton, and all over the country until 
 darkness came upon the scene, and some of the hounds 
 were lost. One, I regret to hear, was killed on the railway. 
 This was a good day as things go this season, and a hard 
 one for horses and hounds. Those twenty-one-and-a-half 
 couple of Albrighton bitches are superb — such music and 
 drive ! it is a real pleasure to ride after them. 
 
 Tuesday, with Mr. Corbet at Wrenbury Station, there 
 was an utter collapse of scent. People flocked there by 
 rail and road. The biojo^est meet of the season, and the 
 majority seemed determined to have a ride, hounds or no 
 
Onslow — A Boosting Fox. 47 
 
 hounds. The pet coverts were drawn, foxes went away to 
 order, but scarcely out of view could the indefatigable 
 master prevail upon his pack to own their line ; so that 
 after four good tries, all ending in failure, he threw up 
 the sponge before three o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 Sir Watkin, or rather Groodall, did no better from Old 
 Oswestry, and afterwards Halston, although it was said 
 that he might have tried to hunt one fox that was holloaed 
 away from Halston. Probably, however, Goodall shared 
 the disgust of his hounds, and preferred that the fox 
 should have his run to himself, for to-day at least. 
 
 Wednesday, at Onslow, brought a large field together, . 
 whether in expectation of a " turn up" between 
 Borderer and the Colonel we don't know. Anyhow, 
 in this they were disappointed, as also in finding a good 
 fox at Onslow. All the coverts were patiently drawn 
 without a response, but as they had recently been shot a 
 second time over, and had not had time to get quiet, this 
 was hardly to be wondered at. The withy bed ought to 
 tempt a fox into its thick sanctuary in about a month's 
 time, and Colonel Wingfield is evidently most anxious to 
 wipe out his blank scores. So on we went to Cruckton, 
 and drew two very foxey-looking places without a whimper. 
 The third, hard by the road, contrary to custom in 
 this country, a good many of the field rode through 
 with the hounds. General Jenkins said that this was to 
 be the place where our hopes would be realised. Still, 
 hounds made no sign — no, I am wrong — it had been 
 three parts drawn, and the keen eye of the master of the 
 Wheatland saw a couple go, and throw up their heads at 
 an old holly-bush, as if winding something — Thatcher had 
 passed within ten yards of the place. Mr. Allen cracked 
 his whip twice, and then going close to the bush, saw in 
 a bunch of thick ivy, about four feet from the ground, two 
 bright eyes. This time he let fly with his whip right into 
 the bush, and as he did so out came a nice sleek little 
 fox that had been neatly curled up in the safest of places. 
 Some wag remarked that in his clever instinct he had 
 borrowed a leaf out of a pheasant's book, and finding this 
 bird the most favoured creature hereabouts, had taken to 
 ''perching" as safer than being safer than either on or 
 under the ground. Be that as it may, no rogue elephant 
 ever created a more sudden or appalling commotion than 
 did this brisk little fellow from the moment he touched 
 
48 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 terra-firma — charging through the hounds and horsemen, 
 across the road, m face of a multitude. The Babel was 
 tremendous. This no doubt upset his nerves, for his 
 course afterwards was most erratic. Now he ran round 
 a house and buildings, and now back in a contrary direc- 
 tion, and then describing a letter S, he took us with a 
 catchy scent scross more roads, and through some 
 awkward hairy fences that made their mark on the field. 
 One man was bleeding like a pig, and must have lit on 
 his nose ; another was down twice ; and two others who 
 do not fall as a rule, were in a like predicament. This 
 went on amusingly till we came to a little covert opposite 
 Cardiston Church, where no doubt our short running 
 little friend dodged back, or lay down, while Thatcher 
 tried to make us believe that he had absolutely flown to 
 Eowton and galloped off there, when all the time there 
 were some lusty lungs proclaiining him back towards 
 Cruckton. There is no gainsaying the fact, however, that 
 the cutting east wind was fast freezing up the fallows, and 
 that hounds' feet have to be considered. The General's 
 *' rooster " lives, we trust, to fight another day. And 
 here ends my hunting diary for the week, frost having 
 put a stop to all fun for the rest of it. 
 
 I forgot to say that I heard the Shropshire had a very 
 fast thing with a kill in the open on Monday week, from 
 Stoke Heath. 
 
 The Salop Bachelors' Ball, at the Lion, is, we fancy, 
 only a revival of an old affair. Be that as it may, 
 however, a capital dance Was accomplished by them on 
 Tuesday, the twentieth. Everybody seemed to do their 
 best at enjoying themselves — the supper and champagne 
 were capital. Encore, cry all young ladies, as well as 
 the married men. 
 
 There is to he a hunt meeting at the Eaven on 
 Saturday next when I trust there will be a good 
 attendance of sportsmen. Perhaps I am heading the fox, 
 but I cannot help thinking that the south side of the 
 country will again be called upon to separate itself from 
 the north. It is hardly fair to Mr. Lonsdale to ask him 
 to undertake it for another season, especially as he has 
 plenty of country for five days a fortnight, or even three 
 days a week, without it. What we want is a resident 
 near Shrewsbury, who will quietly undertake the south 
 country for two days a week — Wednesday and Saturday. 
 
Grand National — Gnosall Station. 49 
 
 It will not be costly, and probably six hundred pounds a 
 year could be guaranteed him. There is I believe, a 
 better chance of foxes being befriended about Condover 
 next year, and altogether the prospect of having a stock 
 of foxes in the country is more hopeful than it v^as last 
 vear. 
 
 FOUETEENTH WEEK-^anuaey 26 to 31. 
 
 We have now before us the weights for the Grand 
 National Steeplechase, and are able to judge of the 
 chances of many of the entries. The conclusion I am 
 obliged to come to is that they are a seedy lot, and that 
 many could not win with two stone less weight 
 than is assigned to them. The following twelve I prefer 
 at their respective weights : — Zoedone, list 111b ; 
 Frigate, list 101b; New Meadow, list 101b; Zitella, list 
 91b; Sachem, list 61b; Azuline, list 51b ; Captain, list 
 21b; Eoquefort, list ; Ivanhoe, 10st91b; Sceptic, lOst 
 91b; Equity, lOst 51b ; Eatonian, lOst. Probably these 
 will be thinned out when the acceptances appear. 
 
 On hunting, I have once more a full week on which to 
 dilate, and to glory in the departure of frost and east 
 winds. On Monday, the 26th, the Shropshire were at 
 their extreme (eastern) border at Chetwynd, near New- 
 port, where they found a fox that immediately took them 
 still further afield into the Albnghton country, very fast 
 at first, but soon slowing down until he could hardly be 
 owned as far as Offley Grove, where he was left. This 
 was a good line, and but for the interposition of a boggy 
 brook, which was considered unjumpable, would have 
 been more enjoyed. A second fox from Ellerton Hall 
 did not add much to the reputation of the day. 
 
 The North Stafford, for some unaccountable reason, 
 disappointed their followers by not turning up at the 
 meet on Monday; consequently, several of them took 
 advantage of the Albnghton being at Gnosall Station on 
 Tuesday to swell the field there. A nice hunting morn- 
 ing, and many good men and true were there to do justice 
 to it. A trot away to Eanton, and a quick find in the 
 first covert drawn, soon put life into the proceedings. 
 For a mile or so it looked all over like a run, as hounds 
 
60 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 ran merrily over a good line, but then scent grew catchy, 
 and the fox began his crooked tactics, circling about 
 hetween Eanton and Edenhall, once or twice touching 
 North Stafford country, and eventually having to be 
 given up near Eanton Abbey, after more than an hour's 
 badgering. A move was then made to Knightley, where a 
 fox was prettily found, but was unable or unwilling to 
 face the open, and after racing round the wood for ten 
 minutes, with some threadbare escapes, he scrambled into 
 a rabbit hole. Scott was very anxious to have him un- 
 earthed and devoured, but the Master decreed otherwise, 
 so on we went to Oulton Gorse, a pet one of Sir Thomas's 
 own planting, and just coming to perfection. A long 
 and careful draw, and at last a whimper. " Huiu, 
 huic," says the Master, consoled and happy. The cry 
 soon swells. He is off, and the pack are literally on his 
 back, flying for the canal — as usual, opinions differ as to 
 the means of crossing. A bridge lies right and left, and 
 the field is divided. The right hand men to-day get a 
 little the best of it ; although hounds are inclining to 
 the left, their way is the most direct. Norbury village is 
 raced past like a flash of lightning ; Blakemore Pool is 
 almost touched, and passed on the left. Then Knightley 
 Grange is whisked past, and for a moment there is a 
 hesitation in the flying sterns — a Godsend to hard-ridden 
 steeds. But ere the rear can close up we are away 
 again, over a road and some easier country for a few 
 fields. Then another road, and fences come thicker and 
 stiffer. Alas ! what is that scrimmage on the right — one 
 down and another " on top " as the Tyke would say. A 
 lady jumping on her husband. We did not like to intrude 
 among the endearing epithets of grief and remorse. No 
 bones seemed broken, nor, let us trust, was any other 
 evil consequence the result. Hounds still are huntmg 
 steadily on, and we must be with them. The country is 
 strange — it is North Staffordshire. Yonder little town 
 is Eccleshall, and here is Wincote Wood, a favourite 
 covert, lying high above the surrounding country ; and 
 here, too, there is an open earth to receive our good fox. 
 Fifty minutes, and a seven-mile point — good enough for 
 any ordinary mortal — and everyone satisfied and happy, 
 unless it be those who failed at leapfrog, or the lion 
 tamer, who, to my no great surprise, came an imperial 
 • crowner a few fields before the finish. 
 
Atcham Bridge — A quick Twelve Minutes. 51 
 
 Wednesday, at Atcliam, brought lots of people as usual, 
 and floods of rain. Attingliam, for the first time this 
 year, held no fox. Eavenshaw Gorse, only a fine outlying 
 doe, that broke in good style. Upton Withy Bed put our 
 shivering carcases into quicker pulsation. A fox was 
 undoubtedly at home. He ran rather a risk of being- 
 chopped, but the field behaved well, and he slipped away 
 at the upper end. Such a rush down the long field 
 between the railway and the covert, only to discover a 
 newly-erected wire fence defying us at the end of it. 
 There was nothing for it but to poke through a nasty 
 place at the corner in single file — a most trying ordeal — 
 made worse by a cannon and a fall — confusion worse 
 confounded. Poor fellow ! How I pitied that good 
 sportsman, as his loose horse nearly pitchforked me under 
 the railway arch, and careered away for the next mile, first 
 baulking one man and then another. I wonder if he has 
 ever been recovered ! But to the hunt, my friends. This 
 squeezing through the neck-of-the-bottle business gave a 
 scattered start to the field, and the hounds ran like 
 lightning, parallel with the Tern, over a country that had 
 to be jumped, up to Withington Wood. Twelve minutes, 
 it was said. JSTo end of men found the ditches too blind 
 and deep, and loose horses kept increasing ad libitum. I 
 must say that a veteran bit of scarlet and white cut out 
 the work, with another scarlet and chesnut and a black 
 and chesnut very handy. Through Withington Wood the 
 hounds ran, and down the meadows to the Koden, where 
 a fenced-in bridge caused a barrier, until five 2>airs of 
 brawny arms shivered its timbers, and then its planks 
 were found so rotten that each horse in turn dropped 
 through, more or less. This danger passed, hounds 
 checked on the plough, and scarce owned a line beyond 
 the canal near Sugden. Whether our fox ran the canal 
 bank right handed, or whether he went on to Forester's 
 Plantation, and the pelting rain obliterated his where- 
 abouts, this deponent sayeth not ; but all agreed that 
 that first spin was worth doing a few more times in our 
 lives, while health and strength remained with us. Holly 
 Coppice, Haughmond Hill, and Longnor refused to add 
 to the day's pleasure, and those who reached home dry 
 must have been very few. 
 
 Thursday I know nothing about ; but Sir Watkin's 
 Wednesday, at New Street Lane, was a terrible failure. 
 
52 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 A bad fox at Styclie, and no better ones at Shavington, 
 made no amends for a long endurance of the pelting- 
 storm that prevailed there all day long. 
 
 Friday, at Shawbnry, with the Shropshire, had a more 
 cheerful appearance, and a good field was there, includ- 
 ing Sir Vincent Corbet, whom all rejoiced to see looking- 
 so fit and well. Shawbury Park held a fox, who scuttled 
 off towards the river below the village to ground in three 
 fields, before half the field knew he was on his legs. 
 Then Shawbury Heath and Matthew's Coppice were 
 tried ; but it was not till we reached Sir Vincent's new 
 gorse, a very pretty and promising covert just growing 
 high enough to hold a fox, but very bad for hounds 
 to draw, that we were put on our metal again. The fox 
 was not in a hurry to leave such snug quarters, and 
 returned there from the adjoining cover before he finally 
 hardened his heart as if he meant Acton Eeynald, but 
 swinging to the right, went through Matthew's Coppice 
 to Shawbury Heath, and then putting us on the grass, 
 the run became a merry one for a few fields, strongly 
 enclosed, until an open drain close to Mr. Ward's house 
 at Hadnal received our fox, and ended our hopes of a 
 go(Kl gallop to Preston Gubbalds. The afternoon was not 
 improving, as hounds moved back to Acton Reynald, 
 where in the Tiee covert they soon found, but he was not 
 destined to live long, for he apparently broke his leg 
 coming out of the covert at some wire fencing, and of 
 course was killed there and then. • No. 4 was found in 
 the Forge Covert, near Moreton Corbett, and hounds ran 
 very fast up to the road, where they checked, and appa- 
 rently were unalle to recover the line. The majority of 
 the field went home well drenched, but Thatcher picked 
 hi in up again in the Lee, and ran him round the Park. 
 A single hound got a view, and cutting him off turned 
 him into the jaws of the pack, opposite Sir Vincent's 
 front gate, A most orthodox little fox, but, like the 
 other specimens of the day, sadly wanting in stamina. 
 
 On the same day I hear Mr. Corbet had a brilliant 
 thirty-seven minutes from Hurlestone with a kill, not 
 straight, but worthy of the occasion. 
 
 On Saturday, the thirty-first, Shropshire in the County 
 Town was given to selling and buying horses, and dis- 
 coursing on the hunting arrangements for next season 
 South of the Severn. The Shrewsbury horse sales are 
 
A Want to he Sicpplicd. 53 
 
 ■decidedly improving — the animals change hands in abona- 
 fide way, and Messrs. Hall, Wateridge, and Owen are to 
 be congratulated on their efforts. It is perhaps a pity to 
 mix up cart horses with nags and hunters so much, but 
 this is a lesser evil. 
 
 Of the hunt meeting I would fain say that what looked 
 like a tangled skein at starting, unravelled itself mar- 
 vellously under the Chairman's (Mr. Hulton Harrop) tender 
 handling. Mr. Henry Lingen Burton consented to retain 
 the secretaryship for another season, and the guarantors 
 one after another consented to hold to their posts, so 
 that our Wednesdays, for another season at least, are 
 safe, and we have time to look round, and consider well 
 our position before launching into anything new. 
 
 A determination that there shall be no more blank days 
 will gladden Mr. Lonsdale's heart, I am sure, beyond the 
 measure of guarantees. 
 
 By the bye, can nothing be done to soften the feelings 
 of the L. & N. W. R. Co. towards hunting men? In 
 these days of diminished receipts, to refuse remunerative 
 traffic seems extraordinary, and yet not all my powers of 
 jDersuasion can prevail on them to book horse boxes for 
 Gnosall by the twenty minutes past ten train from 
 Shrewsbury. This is the only central station for the best 
 Albrighton meets, and would be well patronised, as it is 
 so nicely timed for the purpose. Excuses are made that 
 it would delay the train. I tested this myself by the 
 earlier one, and found that one minute sufficed to back 
 the train, and detach the box. In less than five minutes 
 my horse was unboxed. There is no passenger train timed 
 to reach G-nosall from Stafford for nearly a quarter of an 
 hour after the arrival of this train, so that no block could 
 occur by the box being shunted across the main line. 
 Hunting men are good customers to the railways, and I 
 am speaking the opinions of several besides myself, when 
 I say that the present state of things is unaccommodating 
 and unreasonable. 
 
 FIFTEENTH WEEK— February 2 to 7. 
 
 My twelve seleations for the Grand National have 
 dwindled to five among the acceptances. There has 
 been an unexpected clearance among the middle weights. 
 
54 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 Howbeit, Zoedone, Frigate, New Meadow, Eoquefort, 
 and Equity are not very bad ones to stand on, and I shall 
 not look further for the winner at present. The question 
 of the continuance of Shrewsbury races still hangs fire. 
 The racecourse proprietors are standing out for higher 
 terms than the promoters of a new company feel inclined 
 to give. It seems a pity that if both parties are, as they 
 profess to be, anxious to see a continuation of the sport, 
 that a little more meeting each other half way cannot be 
 indulged in. The question of putting the stand and 
 buildings in proper repair seems to be a preliminary 
 difficulty, but surely this should be met by the racecourse 
 proprietors as a liability, and it would then devolve on 
 the leasing parties to maintain and keep them in order 
 and repair. There is yet time for wise and moderate 
 counsels to prevail. 
 
 I understand that a project is on foot, which bids fair 
 to bear good fruit, and this is to hold a show for young 
 horses in the summer in connection with the puppy show, 
 to be confined to tenant-farmers within the limits of the 
 Shropshire hunt, and to embrace young horses of each 
 class. I believe also it is Mr. Lonsdale's intention to 
 obtain a good hunter sire for the benefit of the locality, 
 in which also he has Borderer's w^armest wishes. How 
 much a man can do to benefit his fellow-men in such 
 ways as these, will I trust, be exemplified, as the good 
 heart of our present master expands and becomes 
 appreciated. 
 
 Our hunting week opened on Monday with a deluge of 
 rain. Waterproofs and stout hearts were required at 
 starting, but eleven o'clock brought a break in the 
 clouds, and at noon there was a clear sky. Attentions 
 were divided between Sir Watkin, at Euyton-XI-Towns, 
 and the Shropshire at Hawkstone. Curiously enough, 
 both packs rejoiced in good sport, and each obtained it 
 by means of a raid into the other's country. 
 
 Giving preference to Sir Watkin — who himself faced 
 the elements most nobly — Boreatton gave no results, 
 but Grighill put us going at once, one half of the field 
 galloping to a halloa on the north and the other half 
 popping back with Good all and the pack, after 
 another that broke in a contrary direction for Boreatton. 
 Here, by a sharp turn to the left at the top of the covert, 
 after crossing the brook, the majority of the field were 
 
WhitcMirch — Sandford. 55 
 
 thrown out, for while they galloped towards Euyton the 
 hounds turned behind them, and crossed the park by the 
 house, w^ith only the rearguard and two or three knowing 
 ones in the swim with them. Dropping down across the 
 railway, a very pretty gallop resulted across the grass to 
 Stanwardine. Surveying the line of pursuit from above 
 the railway, was interesting and tantalizing, I admit, 
 but there was nothing for it but to negotiate their gaps, 
 and overtake them in slow hunting up to Stanwardine 
 Gorse, which the fox did not appear to have entered, 
 but its precincts were sacred for to-day, and its earths 
 open. So we trotted back to Baschurch, and in the 
 sedgy plantations by the railway put No. 2 on his legs. 
 He tried to cross the line, but was met by a shepherd 
 and his dog, and showed his folly by preferring the jaws 
 of the hounds to facing the lesser foe, and so was eaten, 
 there and then. Chagrined at this, there w^as nothing 
 for it but a long jog to Nesscliff, which the majority of 
 our plucky field preferred to undertake sooner than give 
 in for the day, and in this they were unusually rewarded. 
 A fox was quickly found, and as quickly rattled into the 
 open above Great Ness, then, bending to the right, he 
 took us nicely by Little Ness, where some ploughs made 
 us hang fire a little, until we got on the grass again 
 across the Baschurch road, and leaving Adcote a field on 
 the right, crossed the river near the mill, going merrily. 
 Two fields further, and we checked again, only, however, 
 to hit him cleverly over the next road, and steer away 
 for Walford, where a soldier, in taking a fly at the brook 
 that divides the two counties, came down a burster, from 
 his horse over-jumping himself. Leaving Walford Hall 
 on his left, our good fox was evidently bent on gaining a 
 haven at Leaton Knoll, which he eventually did, a 
 couple of miles further on, and Goodall wisely determined 
 not to pursue him any further into Shropshire country, 
 and ordered the hounds to be stopped at a quarter to five 
 in the afternoon, after giving us a very pretty hunting 
 run of about an hour, entirely in the open over a nice 
 rideable country, that afforded plenty of fun, but perhaps 
 lacked the pace that some aspiring spirits would have 
 enjoyed. To mj humble way of thinking, those big dog 
 hounds lack the dash, music, and nose that the Sir 
 Watkin's of old days used to be famous for — perhaps I 
 have no right to say so, but with all the means at 
 
66 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 command I would find a remedy for this by some 
 means. 
 
 The Shropshire began their Monday badly ; no fox in 
 Wyrley Eough or Losford, with its swollen brook. 
 Twemlows at first only produced a brute that ran on 
 to Frees Heath and lay down, prepared to die there. 
 A fine grey old fellow had been awakened by this little 
 commotion, and on the hounds returning, he was off with 
 a good start Ightfield way. Those first two or three yawning 
 boggy ditches and strong fences gave hounds a lead, and the 
 goodly contingent from Sir Watkin's Whitchurch side, as 
 well as the Shropshire thrusters, vied with each other to 
 catch them, as they steered straight for Ightfield church. 
 Heads up and sterns down, there was no mistake about 
 the pace now. Swerving to the right under Ightfield, 
 they crossed the road, and sped on for Cloverley Gorse. 
 Here his intentions seem curiously to have altered, 
 as if he had not yet shown sufficiently the beauties of 
 his district from a hunting point of view, so he swung 
 to the left, right up the Ash pastures of notable fame. 
 Horses had to be caught hold of tight by the head, for 
 the fences could not be chanced, and twenty-five 
 minutes of racing had been the task set them, when 
 hounds checked, and the pace slackened, as he left 
 Ashwood to his right, and Colonel Elvers Bulkeley's 
 favourite little clump of a covert hove in sight. Another 
 check here, and then once more the chase was continued 
 by Broughali to London and North Western Eailway at 
 the Brick Kiln crossing, where Thatcher's powers were 
 out-witted, and this grand fox made good his escape in 
 Sir Watkin's country, after a ran of an hour and twenty 
 minutes, or thereabouts. All accounts agree that no 
 huntsman could have ridden better to his hounds, or 
 handled them better than Thatcher did, and I am pleased 
 to hear this from disinterested persons, who seldom have 
 the means of giving an opinion. It will be invidious to 
 mention those who distinguished themselves, but when I 
 say that among those present there was a Bulkeley, a 
 Gore, a Jones, more than one Hill, a junior Lonsdale, 
 and a young lady from Hinton way, I need not 
 particularise further. 
 
 I am indebted to a friend for a capital account of the 
 South Cheshire day on Tuesday. 
 
 " Tuesday, February the 3rd, at Wilkesley. There was a 
 
At Wilkesley with Mr. Corbet. 57 
 
 yery big field, and Mr. Corbet gave a little law for the 
 'specials' to put in an appearance, so that when he 
 trotted off to Kent's Eongh, no one could complain about 
 being left behind. Kent's Eough, altough it was all cut up 
 last spring, held a fox, but he was a shockingly bad one. 
 He first of all broke away on the North Stafford side, 
 but soon turned to the left, and after ringing round a few 
 miles, Kent's Eough was agaiu visited, then out on Mr. 
 Corbet's side ; he ran into a small covert below his house, 
 where he was soon chopped. No. 2 was produced from 
 Mr. Corbet's cover in the Park, but immediately went to 
 ground. A terrier and a man wdth a spade soon made the 
 tenement too hot, and out he bolted right into the jaw^s of 
 the hounds. Shavington was our next draw, and although 
 Sir Watkin's followers spent nearly an entire day there 
 the previous Wednesday, bustling about, foxes were just 
 as plentiful to day, three jumping off what is called the 
 Island, in the Big Wood, at once. Mr. Corbet endeavoured 
 to get the hounds together, but it was impossible, the 
 three foxes being respectively chased by three divisions of 
 the hounds. One division immediately accounted for one, 
 the other two divisions running respectively right and 
 left in the Big Wood. Mr. Corbet soon after got 
 away with one on the x\dderley side, but, running 
 round the Park, we were soon into the Big Wood 
 again. More running through and through this 
 beastly wood, first one fox and then another, until all 
 seemed to vanish, and Mr. Corbet made a move for the 
 square covert at Burleydam. This, as also a small place 
 close by, and Walk Mill, proved blank; but in a little 
 thick covert within three fields of Walk Mill, called, I be- 
 lieve. Cakes Eough, a fox was away at once, and hounds, 
 getting on good terms with him, raced him down to the 
 river Weaver, just below Moss Hall, close to Audlem ; 
 then running along the side of the river as if going into 
 Adderley, he suddenly changed his mind and swam the 
 river, crossed the railway, and then, two fields further on, 
 the canal. This sounds like good business for the field. 
 Well, it caused little inconvenience, as it all happened 
 close to the high road leading into Audlem. Just skirting 
 Audlem, the hounds crossed the road close to the National 
 S3hool, and ran as if pointing for Buerton Gorse, but 
 turning to the left on Mr. Boote's farm, and after 
 negotiating some rather awkward fences, and a brook 
 
58 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 that had to be got into and out of, we found the hounds 
 in Birchall Moss, but pushing their fox out, he pointed 
 as if for Dodington Park ; and, in fact, we ran a goodish 
 distance in that direction Then, turning to tne left, 
 leaving Broomlands Hall to the right, our fox was now 
 viewed not only by the field, but by the hounds as well. 
 He, however, contrived for a time to elude his blood- 
 thirsty followers just outside Birchali Moss, by hiding 
 behind a door of the out-premises attached to a cottage. 
 "An amateur whip young man" thought he would have 
 a look round the cottage premises, and soon discovered 
 Eeynard in his new quarters. Poking him out, he ran 
 into Birchali Moss, where he died like a good fox 
 should do. 
 
 " It was certainly half past three, perhaps a little later, 
 when we found, and we killed our fox about five o'clock. 
 
 "The first part of this run was certainly fast enough to 
 please the hardest rider, but from the time we crossed 
 the Weaver, and until the end, not so fast, but still it 
 was a good hunting run." 
 
 Of the Shropshire, Tuesday, what can I say ? It is 
 smumed up in the word " disappointment." No vestige 
 of a fox about Eyton-in-the-Wildmoors, while Rowton 
 Gorse held one that actually succeeded in dodging the 
 hounds for an hour and twenty minutes, without ever 
 leaving his covei't, and keeping the field all this time in 
 shivei'ing expectancy of a gallop that never came. It 
 was quite a relief to hear, " Whoo hoop," and turn 
 homewards. 
 
 Thursday, at Pitcliford Hall, must also be classed 
 among the unfortunate days that have been too plentiful 
 this season. The big wood held a fox that unfortunately 
 got hung up in some wire netting, the curse of foxes, 
 and was nailed by a single hound before he could 
 extricate himself. Go! ding Coppice held a brace, and 
 hounds got away on good terms with the wrong one that 
 popped into a drain close to the hall, after a few fields' 
 scurry. Eaton Mascott was blank. And then, Condover 
 Park became the order of the day — a certain find, it 
 was broadly whispered. When there, a miserable 
 keeper's foundling, hardly worthy of the name of a fox, 
 engaged the attention of the pack for a minute or so in 
 a hollow covert close to the keeper's house, but before 
 the poor fellow could reach his home in the pheasantry, 
 
Alhrighton Hall. 59 
 
 a few yards away, lie was overtaken and killed — sic 
 transit gloria Condoveris. Of course Bomere was blank, 
 and thus tlie day ended. 
 
 On Friday, at Albrighton Hall, there was a repetition 
 of Monday's drenching rain, but perhaps the smiling 
 welcome of Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow softened Jupiter 
 Pluvius' heart. At all events, at eleven o'clock, the clouds 
 rolled away. Overcoats were cast to the winds, and Preston 
 Gubbalds received the eager pack, A fox was on his 
 legs instantly, and whilst the field were chatting up wind, 
 the hounds slipped away down wind, and were fields 
 away towards Hadnal before the majority awoke to the 
 necessities of the occasion, and set to work to gallop madly 
 round the covert in a folio w-my4eader sort of fashion. 
 Luckily, the fox was satisfied with a short excursion to 
 the railway at Hadnal, and then, twisting northwards 
 towards Hard wick Gorse, found a convenient rabbit -hole 
 ere he got there, which brought this unsatisfactory little 
 twenty minutes to an end. There was another fox in the 
 Gubbalds, but Thatcher could make very little of him, 
 and we moved off to draw Battlefield way, all to no purpose. 
 Then we had rather a meaningless excursion back to Birchy 
 Moor before once more retracing our steps across the 
 London and North - Western Railway, to finish the 
 Battlefield coverts. It was impossible to suppress a sigh 
 over the hours thus passed in drawing the finest holding 
 coverts in North Shropshire for the first time this season 
 .since cub-hunting, and not one whimper of response did 
 they afford us. At last, at half past three, when many 
 of our field were tired out, and had turned towards home, 
 the order was for Pointon Springs, as a last resource. 
 Minutes grew into a quarter of an hour, and still 
 Thatcher's efforts were unavailing — the covert had been 
 three parts drawn, when a couple of sportsmen were 
 suddenly exercised in their minds as to what animal crept 
 past them through the bushes — neither would quite 
 swear that it was not a hare. The master s horn settled 
 the question, and the next minute a dark, straight- 
 necked looking fellow was dashing away across the open 
 for Shawbury Park. The hounds did not settle on him 
 quickly, but when they did there was no mistake about 
 their intentions. Like fire they flashed through the Park, 
 and swept out over the great ploughed lands lying 
 j)arallel with the main road to Shawbury, crossed it before 
 
60 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 reaching the village, and, turning to the right from Acton 
 Eeynald, pointed for Wythiford. We had touched a 
 small covert here, and were nearing the river Eoden, when 
 hounds threw up, and we never recovered his line again, 
 after twenty-five minutes of very straight and pretty 
 running. What became of him is still a mystery, but I 
 think he is destined to give us another good gallop, 
 before long, from Wythiford. 
 
 Our Whitchurch Saturdays have come back to us, and 
 to-day Borderer's emerald eye cast a longing glance 
 towards that favoured land, as he wended hi s way towards 
 Market Drayton. This is what was wafted to him on 
 the breeze. " A fox at Sandford Pool, of course — and a 
 good one ; a cjuick start, and the usual race over the 
 fifty-acre field, as if for Cloverley— not his point, 
 however, to-day, for hounds are racing more to the right, 
 and are soon across the Market Drayton and Whitchurch 
 road, and down to the brook, luckily close to a ford. In 
 the next field, hounds check, and then steadily pursue 
 their way by the Losford Spinnies, and again over the 
 brook. This time there is no ford, so hearts have to be 
 hardened, or the chase abandoned. Some half dozen are 
 struggling in its swollen waters. On goes the chase 
 across the Bletchley Moor, where some barbarously black 
 ditches and awkward fences find fresh votaries, until 
 hounds check at the railway, and the line is never 
 recovered. Perhaps this straightfos was winking his eye at 
 Goodall in Buntingdale before he has done casting for 
 him. The Cloverley big wood produces another, which 
 is less ambitious of fame. He peregrinates to the 
 Shavington wall, and then back to the Park, where he is 
 caught. Cloverley Gorse responds for a third fox that 
 goes straight into Shavington, and presently again emerges,, 
 much to the delight of the quiet road division, who 
 are making for the front entrance, and after him come 
 the hounds and Goodall in good style, till he manages to 
 hide himself in the recesses of Styche Wood, and all 
 hurry back to catch the special. The morning's run has 
 been the redeeming feature of a nice hunting day." 
 
 Oh that I could close this budget as pleasantly as it 
 began, but nasty, unpleasant things have to he faced 
 even ad nauseafn. I had hoped to have done for a time 
 at least with vulpecidism in the South Shropshire 
 country, but it was not to be — " If you please, sir, will 
 
1% 
 
A Fox Shot near BenthaU. 61 
 
 you come and see a fox that a man has just brought in, 
 and wants to know how it was killed ?." was my morning's 
 salutation when these notes had nearly been pen ned. 
 Away I went before breakfast, and there he was, a most 
 splendid dog fox that man ever saw, in the pink of con- 
 dition, with no exterior mark on him. Of course, a post- 
 mortem was at once decreed, and there, too surely, were 
 two deadly shot marks in his heart. His history was 
 shortly this — he had been picked up in a wheat field, on 
 Friday afternoon, MtBenth all, close to the Cross Gates, 
 and within a few fields of Kowton Wood. He had evi- 
 dently been shot from above, and had run on two or three 
 hundred yards until he dropped dead. Mr. Crane, of 
 Benthall, on whose farm he was found, would as soon 
 shoot his favourite sheep dog as a fox, and is naturally 
 anxious to find the culprit. That he may be unearthed 
 and well trounced, when discovered, is the sincere wish 
 of Borderer, and, he feels sure, of every sportsman here- 
 abouts. Jf anything can be ferretted out that is reliable, 
 to mark the guilty person next week, I v/ill promise to 
 publish it iij old Eddowes's front page. 
 
 SIXTEENTH WEEK, February 9 to 14. 
 
 I have very little to say about horses this week, as I 
 do not pretend to be able to thread the mazes of the 
 Spring Handicaps until the acceptances have been de- 
 clared, and racing and steeplechasing are not yet fairly 
 set going. It is pleasing, however, to be able to announ(;e 
 that Mr. Lonsdale has consented to give £50 to be run for 
 at Bangor Steeplechases, for horses the property of farmers 
 and tradesmen within the precincts of the Shropshire 
 Himt, and that if five start, £10 will be given to the second 
 horse ; the entrance to be free. So, my yeomen friends, 
 look to your galloping gees, and do not be shy at having 
 a fling for this nice stake, over the finest natural course 
 that any country can supply. I think I can pick some 
 likely ones for the work, and there is plenty of time to 
 get them fit without overdoing them. Welshpool 
 Steeplechases, on the thirteenth of March, will be a good 
 preliminary canter. 
 
62 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES, 
 
 Of hunting there is plenty to be said — such a fine week 
 for scent and weather, the season has not vouchsafed to us 
 hitherto. 
 
 Sir Watkin and Mr. Corbet have had the best of it, 
 although the Shropshire are not quite out in the cold. 
 On Monday, Sir Watkin met at Whittington, and, after 
 indulging in a short sco-mper from Colonel Lovett's covert, 
 a good fox was put going from Halston, close to the 
 ■entrance gate. Shades of Mytton ! how ii would have 
 rejoiced his daring heart to have seen what followed. An 
 awkward start almost always from Halston — the brook 
 surmounted, there is the canal close at hand — then, nice 
 sound grass, and to-day it is uphill work to catch hounds 
 at St. Martin, and past Frankton on the right, leaving 
 Cricket on the left, to Hardwicke. Just a passing call, 
 and they wheel to the left down to the boggy brook, as if 
 Duke's Wood was their point. Not to-day, however, 
 wonderful to say, for, after passing EUesmere town on 
 their right, they pay a visit to Oteley — whose owner still 
 sadly laments his autumn accident — then, with a 
 diminished scent, carry on over the Cambrian Railway 
 nearly to Welshampton Station before crying a go. Those 
 who know the line will appreciate its fine wild qualities, 
 covering nearly twelve miles, and only wanting blood to 
 seal its excellence. 
 
 On this Monday, the Shropshire met at Peplow Hall, but 
 had to come across the Market Drayton railway to find a 
 fox at Morgan's Pool, who took them sharply through 
 Wythiford Wood, and on a good line to Shawbury, then 
 slowly to Acton Reynald, where scent and the fun ended, 
 and no second fox could be found. 
 
 I am again indebted to a friend for an account of Mr. 
 Corbet's grand day on Tuesday, the refrain of which 
 appears to be " ware coffee-housing." 
 
 ''Tuesday, South Cheshire at Brown's Bank, near 
 Audlem. A fox was soon found in what is now known as 
 Lord Hopetoun's covert, close to Brook's Mill, and within 
 a stone's throw of the meet. Getting well away with 
 their fox, the hounds crossed over the brook and ran 
 nearly up to Newtown Rough, but leaving that snug 
 covert to the right, they ran down to the meadows below 
 Audlem Station, and over the ri^er Weaver ; ringing again 
 to the left, they ran through Brookes's Mill, over the 
 l)rook and up to Newtown Rough ; then nearly up to 
 
Broiun's Bank with Mr. Corbet. 63 
 
 Wilkesley, but turning again to the left before Shaving- 
 ton Wall. Kent's Eough was the next covert 
 touched upon by this left-handed fox. Whether he 
 took it suddenly into his head to go straight, or 
 whether he found a substitute I cannot tell, but cer- 
 tainly matters now began to mend, and we soon found our- 
 selves by the Great Western Railway close to the Rectory 
 at Adderley. At this point, half the field were lunching and 
 talking in the road, little thinking that the hounds were 
 racing away at the back of the rectory straight for 
 Collinswood. By degrees, it struck some one that the 
 hounds had not been seen lately, so a move was made to- 
 wards Highfields, but not a hound could be seen. Run- 
 ning through Collinswood, the hounds crossed the Norton 
 road, and were soon in the Bellaport coverts ; running 
 through these coverts, we were quickly at the Market 
 Drayton and Potteries line, which we crossed by the 
 Knighton Crossing, then over the river Tern, dividing 
 the counties of Salop and Stafford, over some boggy drains 
 near Mucklestone, and eventually to ground in a rough 
 the name of which is unknown to me. Your readers 
 must excuse my getting so quickly over the last part of 
 this good run, but, by way of explanation, I plead 
 ignorance as to the names of places, and judging from the 
 following conversation, the natives are not over fond of 
 giving information : — Sportsman-: What the devil do you 
 call the name of this place F — Rustic : Winnington, and 
 
 be d d to you ! — This was really a good run, and many 
 
 a long face was pulled on hearing the news from Mr. 
 Corbet, on his appearing at Hankelow at about a quarter 
 past three in the afternoon for his second draw. It appears 
 that Hankelow was understood to be the second draw, so 
 thither all the disappointed sportsmen flocked, anxiously 
 awaiting for the appearance of Mr. Corbet. Mr. Brooke's 
 two little snug coverts (nearly always a certain find) were 
 to-day blank. Mr. Greaves's grand covert was next 
 4rawn. The master gave his pack plenty of time to 
 4raw, but, alas ! not a whimper, so drew his hounds out, 
 and was soon three fields from covert, on his way to the 
 famous Stick Covert, when there was a "holloa" back; 
 hounds were brought back, and were soon on the line. 
 They hunted their fox close up to Audlem, crossing the 
 high road between Hankelow Heath and the town, and then 
 on along at the back of the town towards Kynsal Heath. 
 
64 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 Scent getting worse, Mr. Corbett was compelled to say 
 *' Home." 
 
 The Ludlow hounds had a memorable run on this same- 
 Tuesday. The meet was Gatley — a huge woodland abont 
 five miles from Ludlow. Their fox left it like a spinney, 
 and crossed the flat to Wigniore, traversed the immense 
 woodland there in a perfectly straight line, and again took 
 the open to Brampton Brian Park and Pedwardine Wood. 
 Here he dwelt,, and was rattled up and down, through the 
 deer park, and almost caught on the gorse near Boar's 
 Ford. Once more going away, however, he passed 
 Stanage to Cwmflankey, and then to Norton, where a 
 thick fog came on, and, the men and horses being 
 thoroughly done up and in Radnorshire country, the fox 
 remained the victor. This run must be fifteen miles as 
 the crow flies, and over twenty with the woik done at 
 Pedwardine. Well done, Ludlow ! 
 
 Wednesday, at Cross Gates, on the Welshpool Road, a 
 charming hunting day. All hlank. 
 
 An account of the Albrighton, Thursday, has failed to 
 reach me. 
 
 ^ Friday, at Middle, made great amends for Wednesday's 
 disappointment. Harmar Hill produced a brace, one of 
 whom was a loiterer, and was immediately chopped. 
 Without loss of time, the hounds were held "^f orward to 
 the line of the other, that broke on the top, and then 
 swung round as if Petton was his point, but after a mile or 
 so he bore right-handed, and nearly touched Broughton 
 Gorse before he circled, and eventually completed an 
 excellent ring to Harmar Hill in forty minutes, to ground, 
 when, by a clever bit of legerdemain, Thatcher treated the 
 pagk to a repast upon the chopped fox that had been 
 quietly poked into a hole at starting. No finer line for 
 trying the jumping qualities of the nags could possibly 
 have been chosen, and I am tempted to dwell on the 
 curious propensity that seems to have pervaded no less 
 than six pursuers to collide with each otlier, resulting in 
 disaster to all six, amongst these the ladies — (No, 
 Borderer, your good angel says " Stay your pen — per- 
 adventure you have yet a frienct or two cimong the ladies, 
 and ' to hold up the mirror to nature ' in their case will 
 never be forgiven.") No bones were broken, nor even 
 much more than temj^orary harm done to complexions. 
 An excellent farmer, Montford wav, does not wish the 
 
WHO SHOT THE FOX? 
 
 A COLLISION. 
 
Maesfen — A First Bate Fifty Minutes. 65 
 
 •experiment repeated of having tlie second whip's horse, as 
 well as his own, on the top of him in a ditch. Nor does 
 the young Squire Walford way any longer desire the too 
 ■close attentions of a Shrewsbury lawyer. The incidents 
 of this lively gallop will remain green in the Shropshire 
 memories long after Borderer's diary has perished into 
 oblivion. 
 
 And here we are at another Saturday with Sir Watkin 
 at Maesfen. They are getting precious now, for are not 
 the birds already in full song, the lambs skipping, and 
 the snowdrops and violets poking up their pretentious 
 little nosegays, to bid defiance at foxhunting ? A big 
 meet everyone expected, and the ladies simply thronged. 
 I counted more than a score, and did not nearly complete 
 the total. Sir Watkin' s ladies are noted for their nice un- 
 assuming manners, steady hands stout hearts, and above 
 all, a thorough appreciation of their sport, and their place 
 in the field. What more could I say on their behalf ? The 
 usual news at the meet. The South Cheshire had been 
 all through the coverts the day before, and killed a fox 
 close to Mr. Kenyon's favourite gorse. Hard luck, 
 especially as the veteran foxhunter, in the nobleness of his 
 heart, had stopped his eatrhs for the Cheshire, and thus 
 had seen one of his own foxes killed close to his own door 
 that might have otherwise alforded sport for to-day. " To 
 bear and forbear" is our motto, so, after a fruitless search 
 in the gorse, we trotted gaily to Goodmore Dingle, which 
 held a brace or more, and we soon had to scramble into 
 and over the dingle just in time to get a start with the 
 hounds beyond. There was no mistake about the way in 
 which hounds flung themselves into their work, and it 
 looked all over like being an exciting gallop for three 
 fields, with the crowd well spread out by the dingle, when 
 a labourer on the top of a rick headed him back to the 
 cover, which was soon surrounded by hoi-se and foot, so 
 that he had to scramble into a half drain, half rabbit 
 hole, to save his skin. Some tweniy minutes were cut to 
 waste in trying to dislodge him, and then the order was 
 for Iscoyd. No sound here, but the best covert was being 
 cut, so on we moved towards the Wyches with fast fading 
 hopes, as the country grew rougher and the day waned, 
 
 Patience, mon ami, * ' everything comes to him who 
 waits." 
 
 Taylor's Gorse, looked after by our excellent friend Mr. 
 
66 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES, 
 
 Jolinson, puts joy where all was dejection. A fox breaks 
 instantly on the right, bids good-bye to the Wyches, and 
 we bnstle as best we can through some very rough places, 
 beset with bogs, giving hounds a two-field lead. Now 
 they swing to the right, and the choice is between a 
 desperately deep dingle or a detour to the left. The 
 straight men are first with the hounds, who are now going- 
 for Bubney. It is — catch th©m who can ; a widespread 
 pursuit. On each side of the roUing country horsemen 
 seem riding their mightiest. A nasty brook or two have 
 to be dealt with, a local vet. getting a nasty purler at one 
 of them. Then Iscoyd looms in front, and we leave it on 
 our right. SweepiKg round it, however, imperceptibly, 
 we quit altogether the ploughs, and horses take heart of 
 grace as we fly along for the fens. Sporting reader, da 
 not imagine it is quite plain sailing even now, for every 
 conceivable fence has to be taken on the chance ; hounds 
 are racing, and hot blood courses every vein as we strive to- 
 be somewhere in the hunt. Before Bettisfield is reached, 
 hounds once more make a circle. This time our fox's 
 head is pointed for Maesfen, and the effort to live the pace 
 is getting serious, and this not only to us, for yonder dark 
 object under the hedge, doubling from the over-eager pack, 
 is undoubtedly the form of our sinking fox. Nature can 
 no longer endure this tremendous pressure. One hound 
 turns quicker than the rest. Now only one small paddock 
 divides them, aud the next brings the final tussle. 
 Whoohoop ! It has been a gloriously exciting run of 
 about fifty minutes, in which Borderer saw nothing to 
 call a check — at least he can answer for personally never 
 having pulled his horse into a trot throughout it. The 
 country, too, was more trying than Whitchurch usually 
 produces, and required no ordinary hunter to get through 
 it successfully. "Arundel" will probably tell us on 
 Saturday in The Field how many came to grief. There 
 were many freeholds planted, (mine lies somewhere near 
 the Fens, where a boggy double received me delightfully.) 
 I am sure we covered ten miles of ground, and of course 
 there was talk about change of foxes, but the grand old 
 fellow that yielded us his life was an afternoon fox, and 
 was responsible in my opinion for nearly, if not all, the 
 fun. 
 
 While Sir Watkin's were enjoying themselves at 
 Maesfen, Mr. Lonsdale was having a bye-day in his wood- 
 
The Betirement of Mr. Allen from Wheatland. 67 
 
 lands, at Hawkstone, and a clipper I hear it was ; in fact, 
 a friend tells me that it was a regular " at home " of foxes 
 in the High Woods that Squire Lonsdale came to dis- 
 turb. Quite a dozen went away in different directions. 
 The first was rattled from Grotto Hill, along the 
 Terrace to the Vineyard, then back along the Terrace 
 and away to Kenstone road and hills, back to the Vine- 
 yard, where he was nearly caught, but managed to 
 struggle through Kenstone Gorse and nearly to the Hazels 
 before he was killed — time two hours, and a fine old dog 
 fox. Drew Bury Walls for a second fox, and found five 
 or six ; raced through Kenstone Hills, and away above 
 Hopton, through Tunstall Wood, and on nearly to Pej^low 
 Hall, then, bending back to the right, got to ground on 
 Hodnet Heath — fifty minutes, all racing. A rare day's 
 sport say the select few that were there. To-day's doings 
 will, in a great measure, account for the scarcity of foses 
 of late in the Vale. Several bye-day Saturdays are to 
 follow. Always draw a hill at this season, says Borderer. 
 Several foxes were left at Pimhill last Friday. Many an 
 " at home " will now be disturbed — only, please Thatcher^ 
 be gallant, and spare the ladies ! 
 
 Probably few weekly budgets will equal this one, 
 although another fortnight remains to us of glorious 
 February. 
 
 The Wheatland and Mr. J. C. Allen have come 
 to loggerheads, and this sporting country will be vacant 
 for next year. I fancy the right man may yet be found 
 for it, but its fates have not been propitious of late. 
 
 I promised to return this week to the unpleasant 
 subject of the fox shot at Benthall. The deed has been. 
 a good deal discussed and ferreted into. It seems that 
 a farmer named Dale, living in an adjoining farm, the 
 property of Captain Severne, M.P., bragged a short time 
 back that he had shot at a fox, but did not think that he 
 had hit it. This occurred before the finding of the 
 dead fox. I'he probability is, that, having tried his hand 
 once, he did so again — this time effectually. The 
 Ground Game Act has much to answer for, but it does 
 not enumerate foxes as fair game for occupiers of land 
 to shoot at. I should think Captain Severne will shake 
 his head over this business when he hears of it. No 
 better sportman lives south of the river. I shall never 
 forget a great run we had from Wallop, in Robert Burton's 
 
m HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES, 
 
 days, and the captain won the first steeplechase I ever 
 saw run, while a boy at Eton. 
 
 A curious circumstance has come to light in the 
 neighbourhood of Onslow and the Cross Gates, which 
 throws much light on our recant disappointments. It 
 will give comfort to more than one landowner, on whom 
 Borderer has, he admits, been rather hard. This week a 
 pipe drain near Gough's coppice being stopped up, 
 labourers were set to work to open it. Two hundred and 
 sixty yards from its entrance and seventy yards from its 
 upper outlet, they came upon the carcase of a fox ; still there 
 was an obstruction, when another was unearthed, then 
 another, and still anothei'. Three dogs and a vixen! It 
 appears that this drain had been dry all the summer and 
 autumn, and that the heavy rains had flushed it. The 
 foxes were all lying with their heads uphill, and the drain 
 was too narrow for them to turn round. The first had 
 created a dam, and been drowned, and the others being 
 unable to get past him, had gradually shared his miserable 
 fate. They had been dead about a month. No wonder 
 therefore that foxes have unaccountably disappeared from 
 this side of the country. It reminds me of what occurred 
 a few years ago in the Qaorn Country, when nine foxes 
 were similarly dug out of a drain during a wet time. 
 Moral — " Put gratings on your drains." 
 
 SEVENTEENTH WEEK— February 16 to 21. 
 
 There are times when it seem;^ difficult to get up the 
 steam. How can I write about horses and hounds when 
 ever and anon the spectre of those arid plains in equatorial 
 Africa, where a mere handful of indomitable spirits are 
 standing back to back, facing fanatical hordes, keeps 
 uppermost in my thoughts, and the blood of some of our 
 best and bravest has lately weltered well nigh uselessly 
 on its deserts, and at Khartoum? When, too, the scions 
 of many a Shropshire home, and especially of two of 
 our noblest and best sporting families, are just starting 
 to aid ir stemming the coming storm of Infidelism — 
 going, forsooth, to meet a worse enemy than this — the 
 deadly climate of a burning African summer. 
 
 " Come, Borderer," says a cheery bit of fair humanity 
 -at my elbow, "don't begin prosing and dirgmg any 
 
A laiuent over Egyijt — Wliltt'mrjton. 69 
 
 more like this, or your journal will be flung to the flames. 
 There is all the more reason that you should try to cheer 
 us, and while our boys are singing the parting song 'The 
 girls we left behind us,' give us something that we can 
 send to cheer them even in the camp at Suakim or Korti. 
 Hunting to the battle-stained warrior is a ' continual 
 feast.' " In answer to this appeal, I have tried to 
 unfold you a little budget. 
 
 Of Monday with the Shropshire at Tibberton this 
 correspondent knows nothing. 
 
 Of Sir Watkin's Monday at Whittington he has heard 
 a great deal. A traveller from Wales had found his way 
 to Colonel Lloyd's gorse at Aston, and must needs return 
 in hot haste to his rocky home at Carregynion, or some 
 such a name, with Goodall and his pack paying him such 
 close attentions all the way that he has to thank his bold 
 mountain nature for his success in the day's venture. 
 
 I am indebted to a friend for the following particulars 
 of the run : 
 
 " Sir Watkin Wynn's Hounds at Whittington, February 
 16th (Monday). Trotted straight to Aston Gorse, and 
 found immediately. Our fox only made one turn round, 
 and went away at the far side. There was a scrimmage 
 for a start, but a nasty brook, some half dozen fields 
 from the gorse, rather scattered the field, bringing one 
 lady to grief. Thence straight to Sweeney, crossing the 
 Cambrian Eailway, where, as there was neither bridge 
 or level crossing in sight, there was nothing for it for 
 those who wished to keep with the hounds but to jump 
 in and out. Passing the front of Sweeney Hall and 
 across the Oswestry and Llanymynech road, we bore a 
 little to the left, as if for Wood Hill, but our fox, chang- 
 ing his mind, made straight for Crag Vorda, where he 
 was very hard pressed, and turned down the hill again, 
 much to the disappointment of the few who had, with 
 many struggles, surmounted this formidable obstacle. 
 He then pointed for the rocks near Cy-ny-nion, and close 
 to this point the hounds were whipped off, as, a thick fog 
 having come on, Goodall was afraid of losing some of his 
 pack. The order was then given for Halston, and away we 
 trotted through Oswestry and Whittington to a small 
 covert near the entrance to Halston Park, which, 
 however, was blank. Then on to the big wood, found 
 at once, and ran past Ebnall Farm to the canal, when 
 
10 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 soon after scent failed, and the hounds were put into a 
 small covert close at hand, which held a brace of foxes. 
 The pack soon settled on one, which ran back to the big 
 wood, where, after a turn or two round, he w^ent away 
 at the far end, and a friendly halloa across the road 
 brought the hounds on better terms with their fox, who 
 now took to the Great Western Eailway, where a train 
 was pulled up just in time to prevent mischief. This fox 
 appeared to have a great partiality for the railway, as he 
 crossed and recrossed several times, and eventually, 
 scent getting very cold, Goodall drew off, and went 
 home, very few of a large field remaining to the finish. 
 Sir Watkin was out in his brougham during the early 
 part of the day, and only left us as we passed through 
 Oswestry on our way to the afternoon draw." 
 
 This morning run very much reminds me of one that 
 John Mytton described in a letter toNimrod,on February 
 17th., 1826. He says, "The shrubberies near Aston 
 House were drawn blank. Vv^e then trotted on to Babin's 
 Wood, a sure find, the property of that good sportsman 
 and true friend of foxhunting, Mr. Lloyd. Almost 
 immediately our fox was on his legs — The hounds got 
 well together and rattled him most handsomely through 
 the covert. I exclaimed, 'By G — , Lloyd, there is a 
 scent at last,' and crossing the road we went away at a 
 most tremendous pace, skirting Middleton, and running 
 through Trenewydd Coverts, over the Oswestry road, 
 through Old Oswestry, by Pentre Pant, leaving Porking- 
 ton and Oswestry racecourse on our left, skirting the 
 hills to Selattyn. Here the pace gradually declined, 
 from the keenness of the air on high lands. The hounds 
 hunted their fox to admiration, and aided in a masterly 
 style by Graham, we ran him over an open country, all 
 grass, nearly to Llangollen,, where I tally-hoed him, and 
 the hounds ran into him in a few seconds, af cer a glorious 
 run of one hour and forty minutes. The field was 
 smaller than usual in Shropshire, but everyone had a 
 start. Graham went as usual a good one, as did Mr. 
 Rocke and Mr. Lloyd — not forgetting Will — a superior 
 artist in every way, especially good across a country. I 
 was lucky in being very forward, having taken off my 
 curb chain before starting, thinking that my mare 
 had quite sufficient to carry in 14:St. 101b., without that 
 superfluity." 
 
Ash Wednesday ; a suggestion. 71 
 
 The South Cheshire did well, I understand, on Tuesday, 
 but without anything sensational in the way of foxes or 
 straight points. 
 
 On Wednesday, Shropshire did not contribute any 
 quota to the sixteen packs that advertised to meet on 
 Ash Wednesday. Might I suggest to Sir Watkin that 
 if any conscientious scruples have hitherto existed among 
 his desciples to meet on this day, that in future " Ash at 
 noon " would be an appropriate exception ? I will answer 
 for my good friend, the rector giving us an excellent 
 twelve minutes from the happy text, " We found him in 
 the wood." From the vantage ground on the top of his 
 church tower Mr. Finch has such excellent opportunities 
 of approving of the straight goers, ani reproving the 
 crooked ways of the many, that his discourse would be of 
 unusual interest, and that it would be easy to point a 
 moral. Of one thing I would promise him, and that is, that 
 provided Sir A¥atkin will head the ; procession, Borderer 
 will be there to supply him with copious notes, and 
 promises him a full congregation. The offertory might 
 go in aid of the Farmers' Benefit Society — and a rare 
 gallop from Ash Wood might wind up the fast day ! 
 
 By-the-bye, some people nowadays are married early 
 only to doff their wedding garments for those of the 
 chase — taking two exhilarating gallops with the Belvoir 
 hounds — the lady carrying off the trophy of the brush at 
 the outset of her honeymoon, and the field cheering 
 them to the echo. How charming ! Major Amcotts and 
 Miss Wilson have indeed inaugurated their wedding 
 most auspiciously, and are the most popular couple in 
 Rutlandshire. 
 
 Thursday, at Acton Burnell, was a bright crisp day, 
 and although Borderer lost the pleasure of another 
 peep at this most interesting of Shropshire homes, yet he 
 was pleased to hear that foxes were there in plenty, and 
 that Thatcher rang the changes on three or four for a 
 couple of hours or more between there and ^Tetherwood 
 and the adjoining places, scent not being good enough to 
 ensure blood. Here, at all events, the true animal exists, 
 and can run when required. 
 
 On the same Thursday Sir Watkin had moi-e popular 
 attractions at Whitchurch, although a Cheshire bye-day 
 prevented the field being of its usual dimensions. Peel's 
 Gorse was the scene of a very short chapter of fun, as the 
 
^'^ HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 fox had liis nose straight for d drain Whitcliurch way, 
 and only afforded a few fields' scurry. What disai^point- 
 ing rascals these Peel's Gorse foxes are ! Osniere held a 
 wary fellow, who nipped into Combermere instanter, and 
 afforded poor fun, until he had given up near Oak 
 Cottage. Ash Wood then gave the eager ones a hope of 
 warming themselves in right earnest, especially when a 
 fox broke at the lower side, and for a few fields the pace 
 was good. The cold frosty air, however, overpowered the 
 hounds' efforts, and ere Shavington was reached the pace 
 had become very slow. Here he was given up, and a 
 move made towards home by a few. An afternoon's treat, 
 however, was yet in store for the faithful ones. Ash 
 withy-bed held a poor little fellow that lacked the ability 
 to live more than three of those big fields before he was 
 overtaken and eaten, only, however, as luck would have 
 it, to disturl.» a far stronger wayfarer from a hedge-row 
 hard by. At the risk of indigeston, the hounds were 
 galloped forward to the new fox that jwinted for 
 Ightfield, and probably had his home in the Shropshire 
 country, for he sped away along l>y the Market Drayton 
 EiOad and down to the Twemlows, through it, across the 
 Sandford road, more woodland, and then in the direction 
 of Frees to Lighteach, when Goodall bethought him of 
 his special train, and the shades of evening among the 
 Shropshire ditches hereabouts, and had the hounds 
 stopped. This was a straight and by no means bad 
 gallop, redeeming the day from mediocrity. 
 
 Friday morning gave us a sharp taste of frost, not 
 sufficient, however, to make the possibility of hunting 
 doubtful at 11-30. Leaton Knolls was our trysting place, 
 and a good field showed up, sadly missing, however, the 
 genial face of the squire, more sadly still while remember- 
 ing that he had gone to see his young Guardsman son 
 embark for Egpyt. Many a good wish follows him to- 
 day. An erratic sort of draw began with some small 
 coverts at Bomere Heath, then the home plantations, 
 and then the Shelf, unexpectedly without a fox. Fitz 
 Coppice, however, soon relieved our anxieties by exposing 
 a brace to view in very quick time. Hounds unluckily 
 divided. The dog fox broke at once across the Baschurch 
 road, as if he intended crossing the railway to Merring- 
 ton, and he was chased fast by half the pack, till he 
 recrossed the road and went in front of Walford Hall, 
 
Fitz Coppice — A Hp'm from P'lmliilL 78 
 
 only to disappear suddenly, as far as scent was concerned, 
 when Adcott and Nescliff were reckoned upon as 
 possibilities by those who had participated in the two 
 runs already over this line. I can offer no explanation 
 of this sudden termination of what seemed to promise so 
 well. Thatcher cast forward a trifle fast, considering 
 that he had so small a pack with him, but the rest came 
 up soon, and did not help matters. A long trot was now 
 decreed to Pimhill, which, on such a beautiful afternoon, 
 was really pleasant. The hounds were put in on the 
 Harmer Hill side the covert, and drew it southwards. 
 A fox was soon on his legs, and tried to break on the top, 
 but the wind and a riding-habit was conspicuous in his 
 mask, and he turned down the wood at the Preston 
 Gubbalds side, and went away down wind at the bottom. 
 It was one of the prettiest sights I have enjoyed this year, 
 to see this beautiful long fox extending himself down the 
 meadows, and the pack going great guns almost in the 
 same field with him (for Borderer had run shy ; he 
 had not surmounted Pimhill, but ensconced behind a 
 holly bush in the road opposite). There they came, 
 black leading — a regular black doctor — then a couple of 
 pinks, and a cluster, with a lady among them on a good- 
 looking grey roan. That second fence with the ox rail 
 I am sure has a big ditch — some land with a peck ; all 
 get safely over. I must stop and gape no longer, for 
 unless I push on down the hill I shall fail to cut in with 
 the foremost pursuers. Such a nice line of flying easy 
 fences intervenes until the next road is crossed, and 
 Middle Park looms closely before us, not to be entered 
 to-day, for hounds swing for Harmer Hill, touch the 
 quarries for a moment, only to recross the road, and 
 take us into what appears at first sight to be a hairy 
 country, but really has no terrors of an extraordinary 
 kind, and once more we are at Pimhill, and to ground. 
 All who got away voted it a very pretty little twenty 
 minutes' ring, while the rear guard, who have had to 
 disengage themselves from the top of the hill, voted it 
 nothing at all. We will agree to differ. Preston 
 Gubbalds soon put us going again at its extreme lower 
 end, where our fox broke on our Albrighton day, and the 
 veritable same fellow he must have been, for he pointed 
 Hadnal way, and then made himself safe in the identical 
 drain that gave him a hiding place then. Curiously 
 
74^ HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 enough, another found in the Black Birches, Yqrton way^ 
 was also acquainted with the same spou, for after making 
 a feint to go to Preston Gubbalds, he too, hopped into 
 this aioresaid drain, making the third fox run to ground 
 during the day. Truly this season is unique in its 
 " running to ground " annals ! 
 
 Saturday ought to have been the meet at Garden, but 
 ten degrees of frost unexpectedly stepped in, and counter- 
 manded the horse boxes, as well as crushed the hopes of 
 many a score good hunting men. " To see Garden and 
 die," has been an old Gheshire motto. Borderer is 
 keeping it as a boii bouche, which perhaps may never be 
 realised. 
 
 On Monday the Albrighton met at Hagley, and, I 
 believe, had fair sport. Don't know the country, so 
 can't give you any particulars. Tuesday our meet was 
 Patshull. Net finding a fox in the Park, the master took 
 us to SnowTlon Pool; here a fox was quickly away, 
 running a couple of rings round Beckbury and Eyton, 
 back to Snowdon Pool, where he was killed. He was a 
 bad 'un, trying to get to ground all the time. After 
 this we drew Gosford, Brockton Gorse, and a couple of 
 banks near these, all blank. It was now after four 
 o'clock, so we made a start for home. The master went 
 on to Badger — here they found a straight-necked fox 
 wdiich gave them about forty or fifty minutes as hard as 
 they could go, and they whipped off some wdiere down by 
 Bridgnorth. It was hardly to be expected we should 
 find in Brockton Gorse, as hounds were in it for an 
 hour and thirty -five minutes the week before. 
 
 Thursday w^e met at Loynton. Blakemere Pool pro- 
 vided a fox, taking us by Knightley and Shelmore Park 
 up to Rant on, wdiere we lost him. From here we drew 
 one or two Knightley coverts blank. Went on to 
 Blakemore Pool again (as there w^ere two or three foxes 
 on foot in the morning), but didn't find. From here to 
 Oulton Gorse, at Aqualate. Here we found at once, and 
 had a very nice gallop of about thirty-five minutes at a 
 very fair pace, eventually losing him not very far from 
 Aqualate. Found another fox at Beffcote Gorse — a very 
 pretty find, but hounds could not run him a yard. It 
 was after four when we found this fox, and there was 
 snow in the air — not an atom of scent. 
 
 The Ludlow, I hear, are still rejoicing in a succession of 
 
A real "John Peel " chorus in Radnor shire. 75 
 
 good sport. A first rate day's sport from Kyre Park, in 
 which several Worcestershire gentlemen took part ; and 
 again a big day right through the Marjknoll Woodlands, 
 from the Oakley Park decoy to Jmiiper Bank, and back 
 through Bringewood to Downton, to ground. 
 
 Radnorshire, on its western borders, has been in full 
 swing for the last three weeks over the annual visit of 
 Major Blandy Jenkins's Welsh hounds. Good runs have 
 alternated with blank days, and very few foxes have 
 escaped the wonderful hunting powers of these Welsh 
 hounds. After a fine run from Abbey Cwmhir last week, 
 the convivial chorus of '' John Peel " was enlivened by 
 the appearance of the real animal in the drawing-room. 
 He had been dug out earlier in the evening, and after 
 doing some gymnastic feats over the sofas and chairs, much 
 to the consternation of the ladies, he eventually made his 
 exit through the open window, and those ringing view 
 halloas must have tickled his ears long after he had 
 cleared the flower garden. 
 
 I am told that I have misdescribed the Maesfen run on 
 Saturday week, and that we found, not in Taylor's Gorse, 
 but in Stockton Rough, and ran through Taylor's Gorse; 
 and that we did not go near the Fens, and killed 
 at Park Leys Farm. Not personally knowing the country, 
 I trusted to the typographical resources of a friend, whom 
 I thought likely to be right. The run itself was too fast to 
 enable people to take many bearings, and had it not been 
 that I viewed Iscoyd Flouse and Park from two distinct 
 points during its progress, I should not have known that 
 for the last three miles or so we were running in a ring. 
 I am glad to see that ''Arundel," in The Field, agrees 
 with me in giving it a distinctive mark among the runs of 
 the season. As I write, in the sporting atmosphere of 
 Yorkshire, the snow is fast disappearing, and the hard 
 frost is softening, so that we shall awaken the echoes of 
 Deighton Springs to-morrow, without a doubt. I hope 
 some kind friends will keep alive a few Shropshire 
 notes for you, Mr. Editor, or perhaps some good 
 things will go unchronicled. 
 
7Q HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 EIGHTEENTH WEEK, February 23 to 28. 
 
 A liunting lioliday ! What an absurdity ! Not at all, 
 kind reader, to one whose life is not altogether given to 
 pleasure, and whose hunting days are all the more 
 treasured because they are holidciys. Well! to dear old 
 broad Yorkshire my steps I bent, and the first words that 
 caught my ears on landing on the platform were from a 
 buxom being, similarly emerging from the adjoining com- 
 partment — " Thank God, I'm once more in Yarkshire 
 agin." 
 
 Perhaps I shall bitterly disappoint the majority of your 
 readers, dear Eddowes, by this week taking them over 
 fresh fields and pastures new, through unknown countries 
 and into regions where they will be unable to follow me ; 
 leaving it to kind friends to supply the vacuum which 
 otherwise there would be in local sport for want of 
 Borderer's ubiquity. '■ To the pint however," as Old 
 Jorrocks expressed it. A cold greeting of frost and snow, 
 on Saturday week, augured ill for a keen excursionist of 
 my turn of mind. Sunday, howev^er, seemed to tone down 
 the asperity of nature ; and Monday iiorning shone forth 
 with a south wind and a murky sky. North Dei gh ton is 
 a favourite Brahim Moor meet, and long ere we reached 
 it, pretty pink and black specks were converging by the 
 many bridle paths " to join the gay throng that came 
 marching along " to draw the Springs — two hundred at 
 least. Many a well-known face was there, and many a warm 
 greeting from friends, whose paths in life so seldom cross 
 ours in these later days, that for one who has a warm 
 corner in his heart for an old acquaintance, this re-union 
 had its particular charm. Nobody seems to get older in 
 Yorkshire, and nobody seems to lose his keenness for 
 hunting — and " The Borderer — keen young man," as a 
 friendly wit once dubbed him, tried to put on his best 
 Shropshire polish, and be keen too. No fox in the Springs, 
 nor in Smiler's Whin. The sight of it carried me back 
 twelve years, to a great run I once participated in from 
 here to Tadcaster Town End, and Shire Oaks, which I am 
 almost tempted to halt and tell of now. A trot back to 
 Braham Wood rather damped our spirits, as whoever saw 
 a Plumpton fox run straight ? Yes, he was there, the same 
 looking creature of years before. With hounds at his 
 brush we went for three big fields in right earnest, to 
 Plumpton Rocks. Here he was headed from his point, 
 
A YorhsUlrc Week — The Bramham. 77 
 
 and went to the riglit over light ploughs, holding always 
 a bad scent, nearly to the river, opposite Goldsborough, 
 when he did the orthodox thing by returning to Braham 
 Wood, and could not be traced any further — a very 
 uninteresting ring, but the Leeds and Harrogate 
 divisions managed to find plenty of jumps' and a lady 
 succeeded in falling. A still worse fox showed himself 
 in Plumpton Eocks, from which the quick bitches never 
 allowed him to emerge alive. Rudding Park was the 
 afternoon draw, and a fox from the top larch plantation 
 set us a-going in better style. He might have gone 
 over a good line to the Hags, but two fields was all 
 he tried in that direction, then he went down to the 
 beck under the Viaduct, as if Harrogate and the Moors 
 would suit him, only again to retrace his steps and give us 
 nothing but the most twisting work through the Park 
 twice, and at last over the beck towards Harrogate — slow 
 pottering work, that sent me home not over dehghted 
 with my first day. 
 
 Tuesday— the choice lay between Oxton v/ith the York, 
 or a Bramham bye-day for the dog hounds that had missed 
 their turn, from frost, on the previous Friday. Allwood- 
 ley Crag was pretty handy, and Oxton fourteen miles, so 
 the former had the greater charms, and in the event 
 proved to be right, for the York had a disappointing day, 
 a lot of country drawn blank, and only two short spurts in 
 the way of runs. A delightful canter through Harewood 
 Park on a morning as beautifully springlike as ever was 
 seen, to say nothing of charming companionship, was a 
 fair beginning — indeed, it made loiterin g excusable. There 
 could be no hurry, and yet where are the hounds ? Is this 
 really the meet ? Tracks of horses, naught else. "Where 
 are they "? " Down yonder. Don't ye hear 'em ?" replies 
 a solitary pedestrian ; and then the truth flashes upon us, 
 and away we dash in hot haste for a stern chase — Borderer 
 does not profess to pilot ladies, much less in an unknown 
 shire, and had he not known what a trusty seat and un- 
 flinching nerve that possessor of the riding habit rejoiced 
 in, he shoukbhave hesitated to have left the hard highroad. 
 The truth was this — a fox had crossed the road in front of 
 the hounds at the meet. What could Mr. Fox do except 
 to let 'em go ? And go they did with the vengeance. For 
 thirty- five minutes the pace was a cracker, with scarce 
 anyone except the huntsman really with them, until, after 
 
78 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 a good six miles measured on the ordnance map, lie 
 managed to save his brave carcase in an earth in Round- 
 hay Park, close to Leeds. 
 
 A long trot back, and two or three foxes in Camp Hill 
 Plantation. Quickly away with one round Bramhope 
 Village, and over the Arthington Tunnel, then by some 
 mills, and up into a stone wall country, and down 
 towards Poole, where it looked like catching him, but 
 he made good his escape, and took us over a fine wild 
 country, of which I knew not the name, until he finally 
 beat us in a big plantation above Otley, on the edge of the 
 Moors after a good hunting run of an hour and forty 
 minuies — a decidedly superior day's sport. Those 
 Bramham dog-hounds are hard to beat. 
 
 Wednesday, at Hook Moor, I have not space to dilate 
 upon. It was a woodland meet — Boot and Shoe pro- 
 duced a fox that afforded a fair run before being run 
 to ground and then killed — the Hook Woods produced a 
 second that also had to yield his brush after a woodland 
 hunting run — scent was good. 
 
 Thursday gave me an opportunity of seeing the York 
 and Ainsty at Ribston Park, of sporting memory, where 
 there was certainly a less representative gathering than in 
 old days. There was a Slingsby, some of the Lascelles 
 family, Munroe, Wilniot Smith, and Harry Prescot, several 
 representatives of the Dent family, and a good many 
 Bramham men, helping to make up a small field under 
 Captain Brocklehurst. It struck me also that in horse- 
 flesh the captain was sadly wanting. " No wonder," said 
 a friend, " when he has lost four this season in the field.'* 
 The history of the day is soon told. A fox was quickly 
 away from Ribston that skirted Goldsborough Moor, and 
 then took us sharply to the railway, where he popped into 
 the now proverbial drain. A second from Flaxby took a 
 capital line into the cream of the country, but alas, we 
 failed to hunt more than a mile. Ollerton was tenantless, 
 but from a spinney near the railway, a fox, after nearly 
 being headed into the hounds' mouths, gave us a sharp 
 ten minutes' scurry down to the river J)^idd, where he 
 tried a drain and disappeared. Perhaps this was not a 
 day to form a fair criterion ; but I could not but compare 
 it unfavourably with the past glories of the York, and to 
 feel that a more experienced master would hare gone 
 back to Goldsboroutrh Moor for an afternoon fox in 
 
Bihston Park and Tad caster Bar. 79' 
 
 February, rather tlian hang about uncertam places and 
 spinnles. 
 
 Friday, at Tadcaster Bar with the Braham is always 
 a great affair. Being only eight miles from York, the 
 two hunts regularly join forces, and to-day was no 
 exception, and a splendid hunting morning to boot. A 
 trot to Bilborough Whin revealed a tremendous cavalcade, 
 which had not fully arrived ere Smith and his pack were 
 away at its extreme end, and scores of hard men were 
 scrambling for a start. Such heavy land to push along 
 in we seldom meet with, and yet those that ride the 
 headland see hounds bearing from them. We cross the 
 road, and come on the welcome grass for a few more 
 fields, then the Catterton drain puts in its plea to be 
 Jumped, and receives at least three pi'ostrate forms — 
 hounds check, and the pace is slower up to Angram 
 village, where, at the usual drain, our fox is proclaimed 
 as " gone to ground " in fourteen minutes. Collier Hag 
 does not hold a fox, but in the rushy field adjoining, up 
 jumps a fine fellow within a few yards of my horse. The 
 hounds get a view, and the start is a splendid one— 
 everybody goes crashing away as only they can do on a 
 Bramham Friday, and every fence has a yawning ditch. 
 Still hounds could not drive their fox to Askham Whin, 
 nor by Angram village up to Hutton liall, after passing 
 which the scent improved, and they ran a big ring over 
 the stiff est line in Yorkshire, by Kufford village, skirting 
 Askham Whin nearly to Catterton Springs and Shire 
 Oaks, then to the right by Heelaugh, and so round to 
 Collier Hag again, just before reaching which, foxes were 
 changed, and this excellent forty minutes of fast going 
 came to an end without blood. Men and horses had had 
 nearly enough when the order came for Scandinavia, 
 where a fox slipped away that looked as if he had done 
 some of the morning's work, for he could scarcely keep 
 out of their way at starting, nor through Wighill Park to 
 Bilton, where he scrambled into a road culvert, not ten 
 yards in front of the leading hound. A pole obliged him 
 to leave this, and he then tried the shrubberies, and 
 dodged for his liie till he received his quietus in the 
 wood- stack, and thus wotuid up fitly a very good day's 
 sport. Galloping, hunting, and jumping, ad libitum, had 
 fallen to our lot throughout a lovely day, and an 
 Ex-M.F.H. from a neighbouring country declared in was 
 
80 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 the best day he had seen this season. Dirty coats there 
 were in plenty, but I heard of no serious mishap. 
 
 Saturday, at Stutton Mill, Mi'. Lane Fox again 
 afforded us a treat. Not such a large field as usual on 
 a Saturday — so much to Borderer's relief. The withy 
 beds did not hold a fox, but the cover c on the hill above 
 did duty for them, and he was off like a shot over the 
 road into Grimstone Park. Dwelt there not a moment, 
 but boldly faced the big flat fields that stretched away in 
 front of us. Hounds took up the challenge, and those 
 lovely Bramham bitches led us a lively dance until we 
 touched a Scarthingwell covert, only to whisk through, 
 and slog along through the ploughs beyond it. A turn to 
 the left here brought us to Church Fenton Station, and 
 right across the goods-yard and main line dashed the 
 pack. It was not the time for hesitation, so we charged 
 the railway fence with a deej) ditch, and picked our way 
 among blocks of timber and signal wires down the main 
 line to the nearest gate. Yorkshire railway gates are 
 never locked. The hounds had gained three fields, and 
 we madly crashed after them, fences coming too close and 
 stiff to give time for reflection. The country was a dead 
 flat, and our point was straight for the 999 acre Bishop's 
 Wood. Would be reach that ? No ; but luckily for him 
 he had a haven a mile or so nearer — a cosy drain 
 near Rythers Plantation, although it was a near 
 thing, hounds were coursing him at last. The watches 
 called it thirty-nine minutes, and we all pronounced it a 
 good straight-away gallop, the like of which is not seen 
 every day. ^The long straggling line of pumped-out 
 pursuers told eloquently of th e pace. A long trot back to 
 the country we had left was necessitated before Renshaw 
 put us going again behind one made of different stuff to 
 the last, as he only stood up ten minutes before he was 
 caught. Then Bulling Wood produced a good one that 
 brought this capital day to an end with a long hunting 
 run of two hours to Haywood, Hazlewood, nearly to 
 Bramham, back to Bramham, and Bulling Wood, where my 
 horse had had quantum saff., and it being five o'clock in 
 the afternoon I pulled up. Perhaps Smith stuck to him 
 a bit longer, but I doubt his catching him. 
 
 Not a bad week's work on the whole, and one that will 
 ever be written in my calendar with the thickest red mark 
 T can make. For where are the men who, as a whole, can 
 
Sound Heath ivith the South Cheshire. 81 
 
 compare with tlie Yorksliiremen in their fondness for the 
 sport, and their generous way of making others partici- 
 pate in their pleasures ? Of all the huntsmen that ever I 
 followed, give me Tom Smith, of Bramham Moor. Oh, 
 that Sir Watkin should ever have lost him ! Could he be 
 won back ? This deponent sayeth not, but Smith loves 
 to talk of the old country, and there may be a lingering 
 in his heart for few^er ploughs and drains, and a bit more 
 grass. It is treason to write this in Yorkshire, and I will 
 say no more. 
 
 On Monday, I hear, the Shropshire, at Hodnet, only 
 found one fox, that gave them but a short run, and all tha 
 Wythiford country was blank. This does not sound well. 
 
 On Tuesday, at Socket Grate, Sir Watkin found three 
 foxes in Petton Coverts, but the scent was bad, and they 
 were lost in a few fields. They did not find again till 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, when they finished the day 
 badly by losing three biace of hounds on the Cambrian 
 Eailway. Groodall, I hear, leaves Sir Watkin at the end 
 of the season. 
 
 Tuesday, February 24th, South Cheshire at Sound 
 Heath. There was a goodish muster. I regret to have 
 to record the death of Captain Townshend, of Wincham 
 Hall, Cheshire, who died the previous evening, from the 
 injuries he sustained a few days ago, caused by his horse 
 falling over an invisible wire in a fence in the North 
 Cheshire country. 
 
 Bromhall coveit was the first draw; a fox soon 
 went away, and after a short ringing run was lost. 
 The Stick Covert held number two, who broke away 
 on the far side and ran down to the river Weaver, where 
 the hounds checked, but only for a moment or two, as 
 they soon hit off the line to the left, and raced away with 
 their fox straight into Dorfold Park, where either our 
 hunted fox, or a fresh one, was killed in a small covert at 
 the side of the Park on the canal bank. If it was a fresh 
 fox, he was an uncommon idle one, for although he had 
 every chance to break covert, he obstinately declined. A 
 long trot took us to " Devil's Nest," a small covert 
 within a stone's-throw of Broomhall, but the Nest and 
 two other small coverts close by were untenanted. Hall- 
 a-coo supplied number three, who broke away as if 
 pointing for Broomhall, but having run about four fields 
 in that direction, he turned to the left, crossing the brook 
 
82 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 near Stamford Bridge, then the Nantwich road, leaving 
 Aston village on the left, over the same brook again, and 
 on into the park ; close by Wrenbmy Hall leaving the 
 hall to the right, he pointed in the direction of Chol- 
 mondelev, but the pace having been a cracker, our fox 
 was shortly pulled down by Mr Ward's, at Sproston Wood. 
 From find to finish was about twenty minutes, and I can 
 only say this, that if hounds had kept on going at the 
 same pace, few would have been able to stick to them 
 much longer. 
 
 Who can say Mr. Corbet does not try to give his sup- 
 porters plenty for their money, for, to the surprise of 
 almost everyone, he said he would draw Court's Gorse, so 
 to Court's Grorse we went, and a verv obliging fox broke 
 away on the Combermere side, the hounds were soon on 
 the line, and ran their fox into Combermere Big Wood ; 
 running through the wood, he broke away on the Osmere 
 side, but turning to the right, the hounds either ran our 
 hunted fox or a fresh one back into the Big Wood, where 
 they killed him, 
 
 Wednesday and Friday in last week at Atcham 
 Bridge and Acton Eeynald gave us the two prettiest 
 meets in the year, and as both days were sunny and 
 bright, there was, on each occasion, a large concourse. 
 
 At Atcham we dawdled about for nearly three-quarters 
 of an hour, determined that a contingent of hard-riding 
 sportsmen coming by train from the north should not miss 
 the run which Lord Berwick was sure to afford us. 
 At last they arrived, and mnltd comitantc caterva, we 
 proceeded to draw round Attingham. 
 
 The withies near the Hall held a nice fox, which, break- 
 ing covert, ran up the right side of the river with the 
 hounds but a few yards behind. Few of us expected him 
 to escape a sudden and inglorious death, for behind were 
 the hounds, and all around him were members of the 
 aforementioned caterva (alas ! that Atcham is so near 
 Shrewsbury) who literally " volleyed and thundered " at 
 poor Eeynard. 
 
 I saw one hound snap at him and miss him by a narrow 
 four inches, but with a bound Reynard was in the withy 
 bed, where he must have let the hounds run clean over 
 him before he started again on an easterly track through 
 the woods, and crossed the road straight for Wroxeter. 
 
 We followed, tamely trotting after hounds along the 
 road, but buoyed up by the hope that he meant turning 
 for the Wrekin. 
 
^^*c?w 
 
 mn. REGINALD CORBET. 
 
Haughmond Bill — Acton Beynald. 88 
 
 Alas ! after trotting along for a mile or two the affair 
 came to an end a little beyond Wroxeter. Thatcher 
 tried a long cast forward, but it was whispered in my ear 
 by a native that there was an earth open in a garden at 
 Wroxeter^ and I expect our friend was safe and sound 
 there all the time. 
 
 We next drew one or two coverts blank, till we came 
 to a piece of gorse at Longnor, where the hounds devoured 
 an ill-starred fox which could not get out north (where he 
 intended to), for there he encountered a body of 
 pedestrians, who headed him back. Some who were not 
 afraid of the sound of their own voices, 
 harangued these gentlemen in language more 
 forcible than polite. Happy thought ! How would it be 
 to have a Whip specially appointed for this style of 
 sportsman ? A few minutes later, in the quarry at 
 Haughmond Hill, we chopped another fox. That well- 
 known character, ''The Eanning Devil," was 
 seen marching off with half the carcase. No 
 doubt the suggestion of an enemy of his (probably 
 an unsuccessful rival), that he was taking it home for 
 supper, was untrue, and that he thought the hounds had 
 had enough to eat in the last half hour without it. 
 
 We then drew the Sundorne coverts without success 
 ■until after four o'clock, when we almost all returned 
 home ; but I hear that soon after a fox was found which 
 gave a good run due north toward Acton Reynald. 
 
 At Acton Reynald fortune did not favour the brave. 
 Of two foxes in the gorse one was run for a few fields, and 
 lost abruptly. The rest of Acton Reynald, Shawbury, 
 and Moreton Corbet was blank. At Preston Springs there 
 were foxes in plenty. A vixen was killed without a run, 
 and then hounds divided after two foxes, one of which 
 gave us a sharp fifteen minutes, when we lost him again 
 in Preston Springs, where we picked up the rest of the 
 hounds again There was no further sport. 
 
 NINTEENTH WEEK, Makch 2 to 7. 
 
 Shrewsbury races have taken an important step 
 towards resuscitation since I last wrote of them. The 
 proprietors of the course have modified their terms in 
 such a way as to gain their acceptance by the committee 
 
84^ HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 appointed to promote the races, and four names have 
 been submitted for a new lease of twenty-one years, with 
 the option on the lessees' part to relinquish it at the end 
 of seven or fourteen years. It is intended to assign this 
 lease to a limited company, with a capital of £2,000, in 
 shares of £25 each, of which £5 is to be paid up. A 
 large portion of this capital has already been taken up, 
 but it is desired to have the support of the county gentle- 
 men on the directorship. Several have already agreed 
 to take shares, and others will now be requisitioned with 
 the same object. There will be two meetings a year 
 — one in the spring, and the other in the autumn. 
 Steeplechasing and local stakes will be encouraged and 
 provision made for the carriages of the county families, 
 which Mr. Frail banished from the course. The new 
 company will be open to encourage athletics and cricket 
 on the course, as well as other legitimate amusements. 
 
 I am not ashamed of the four horses that I chose out 
 of the Grand National Steeplechase as likely to be near 
 the mark. They must have afforded good hedging to any 
 bold investor. Eoquefort, Zoedone, Frigate, and New 
 Meadow will, I think, have a good deal to do with the 
 finish on the day of the race. 
 
 Welshpool this week will open the ball auspiciously in 
 this locality. The entries are encouraging. Nightingale, 
 if he appears, looks like winning one race or more. 
 
 I saw a useful hunter sire on Saturday at Mr. Litt's, 
 which had just arrived ; Linnaeus, by Strathconan, out of 
 Sweet Violet, by Voltigeur. What his destiny may be I 
 do not know, but he is of the right stamp, and took my 
 fancy immensely. 
 
 As to hunting, the week has hardly been productive of 
 such sport as might have been expected. The only 
 tolerable day of which the Shropshire have to boast is 
 Monday at Coton Hall. The Twemlows seems to be the 
 best stocked fox covert in the hunt, as it has afforded no 
 end of foxes this year, and to-day was requisitioned more 
 than once satisfactorily. The first fox went across the 
 railway to Coton, and was lost ; the second ran towards 
 Sandford and then back to Frees, and was very erratic ; 
 the third was the best, and, although not straight, took 
 in Weston Hill, the Lower Heath, a visit towards Wem 
 and Soulton Wood, in the hour and a quarter he amused 
 his pursuers, before beating them. Altogether, it was a- 
 
Penhvldgc witJi the Alhrigliton. S5 
 
 good hunting day with plenty of jumping and fun I 
 understand. 
 
 Wednesday and Friday may be summed up as bitter 
 disappointments, as both only are noted for the inglorious 
 death of a vixen ; the one at Dorrington being, I fear, one 
 of the solitary breeding matrons south of the river, and 
 the other a Leaton pet that could ill be spared. To say 
 the least, this was bad luck ; and as dog foxes, except 
 one from Walford in the morning, declined to show up 
 through some well-know^n coverts, all the rest of the 
 days were blank. 
 
 Indeed, my hunting week would fall flat indeed were it 
 not for an Albrighton Thursday at Penkridge, where it 
 w^as Borderer's luck to be present. A lovely hunting 
 morning, and a goodly array mustered in front of the fine 
 old church. Strangers from North and South Stafford- 
 shire. Even Cheshire was represented, as w^ell as Shrop- 
 shire. The lady pack certainly looked perfection, and I 
 never saw greater confidence of sport written in a mas- 
 ter's face than in Sir Thomas Boughey's when he moved 
 off to draw the Whittimores. Of course, foxes were at 
 home, and w^ent away in hot haste on the right side, but 
 after two fields, crossed the road to the right, and made 
 for the railway, where an awkward sort of deep dyke, 
 with hairy banks, and a fence on the landing side, put 
 confusion in our ranks. The fox here turned short to 
 the left, and ran parallel with the railw^ay, till, in three 
 fields, he was caught — a not very strong constitutioned 
 one, that had only stood up for ten minutes. One thing 
 was evident, however — there was a scent. Another fox 
 had left the covert and we got on his line, too late to do 
 any good with him, so it was decided to trot on towards 
 Barton, and it was evident that the master and Mr. F. 
 Monkton had some intent upon an outlying fox that 
 baffled them more than once this season. Eight cleverly 
 they manoeuvred him to-day for our delectation. Men were 
 stationed at vantage points within half a mile radius of 
 this casual's supposed abode, and Scott blew his horn 
 when he came up the road towards Bradley. No sooner 
 had he done so than our wily old friend crept out of his 
 hedgerow, and was quietly slipping away when he 
 encountered General Monkton's out-post, who tallyhoed 
 him forthwith to another, and before one quarter of the 
 field realised the fact that we were in action again, the 
 
56 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES, 
 
 hounds were flying towards Coppenhall. Luckily, owing 
 to the eager tallyhoes of these out-posts, our fqx took an 
 erratic course to start with that gradually let up the 
 field ere we reached Coppenhall. Here he made a right- 
 about-face movement, and caused us a slight check, but 
 contrary to such contretemps in general, the pace 
 increased as they hit him off down the hill, and dropping 
 over the fence into the low ground, those only who rode 
 in earnest were able to live with him for the next 
 thirty minutes. The line afforded us plenty of grass to 
 start with, up to Butterhill, and then, circling to the 
 left, we appeared to go round Coppenhall again before 
 we set our faces straight for the Whittimores, which 
 brought us to the end of about fifty minutes from the find. 
 There was just time to take a pull, and a welcome one, 
 before he w^as away again on the Stretton side, making 
 light of the ploughs, and flying on the grass. He must, 
 indeed, have been a strong fox to have attempted this up- 
 wind work after the spin he had given us, and eventually 
 circled round nearly to where he was found, and then back 
 within a field of the Whittimores, over the 
 road, and then left-handed across the London 
 and North- Western Eailway and main Stafford 
 road, down to the Eiver Penk, facing Teddsley, 
 but here his heart and strength were fast failing him, and 
 the bitches were revelling over the meadows. Once 
 again he crossed the road with his face for the home he was 
 never destined to reach, for yonder he was toiling to- 
 wards the railway ; the leading hounds were soon in the 
 same field with him, and he tried hard for the shelter of 
 Dunston Shrubberies, reaching them ten yards ahead 
 of his foes ; one shuffling scramble round these, and he 
 w^as fairly .caught. A fine tough old fox that had given 
 us as enjoyable an hour and forty minutes as anyone could 
 have wished. Plenty of galloping and jumping for every- 
 one, and if it had been straight, would have made a con- 
 siderable line on the map. I can answer for two people, 
 at least, who were pleased with the result — the Master 
 and Mr. Monkton. They claimed an undeniable victory 
 over this tough old customer, that had beaten them all 
 the season. I refrain from being invidious where all did 
 their best ; but at least five ladies rode as only good 
 sportswomen could have done, and two of them, I heard, 
 came from other hunts. A North Stafford grey, too, 
 
J-S&JIs-.C'Cn^' 
 
 SIR THOMAS BOUGHEY. 
 
Welshijool Steei^lechases — Linnceus. 87 
 
 enjoyed himself, and negotiated a very big place, en 
 route to the Whittimores the first time. No one can 
 say that the Albrighton are not in form, or that pace 
 is not accompanied by music wherever they go. 
 Indeed, I wish I could sing fitly the praises of all 
 concerned — of Scott and his first whip especially. Go 
 and see them, my friends, for another day in their 
 Gnosall or Penkridge haunts, and I will stake my 
 reputation you will not be disappointed. 
 
 I can hear of no remarkable doings of Sir Watkin's 
 during last week, and can answer for a remarkably poor 
 day from Baschurch on Monday. A fox was found at two 
 o'clock in the afternoon at Grig Hill, that meant going, 
 in spite of being headed, and eventually got away over 
 the bottom for Boreatton, but we never seemed to settle 
 fairly on him ; and Goodall, instead of holding them 
 forward, cast back, and lost ground. He was supposed 
 to have gone to ground in the wood under the park, 
 and perhaps he did. 
 
 TWENTIETH WEEK— Maech 9 to 14. 
 
 Welshpool Steeplechases afforded plenty of fun, and 
 there was a large and fashionable attendance. The course 
 however, was rather too stiff for the present style of 
 steeplechasers, and they tumbled over it one after 
 another in a helpless way. Howbeit, as a successful 
 rider confided to me, the pace w^as more than once made 
 too hot to last, and we know how blown horses fall. A 
 good local sportsman in Mr. E. K. Mainwaring carried 
 off a couple of races, and has begun the season well. 
 
 Bangor Steeplechases will soon be here, and few 
 reports of local training reached me. I trust that Mr. 
 Lonsdale's £50 for Shropshire horses will not go begging 
 for want of competitors, or else I shall be forced to 
 exclaim, " How are the mighty Shropshire yeomen 
 fallen from their high estate." 
 
 Some remarks have been made on my encomiums on 
 Linnaeus as a country sire, and great objection has been 
 taken to his colour. I admit that there is a prevailing 
 prejudice against grey as a colour, except on yourjwedding 
 day. And yet how many good grey horses there are — 
 
88 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 how few bad ones. Besides, I am just old enough to re- 
 member perhaps the best hmiter sire in Shropshire dm-ing 
 the last fifty years — "The Yomig Steamer" — he was a 
 grey ! Ask Lord Combermere, our best judge, what he 
 thought of him, and what his feelings were when he was 
 allowed to go to Ireland in his later years ! No ! Grey, 
 as a colour, is really no barrier to success in a sire, no 
 more than it is a hunter ; and whether Linnaeus stopf* 
 here or not, I shall not reckon my patronage of him a 
 question of colour. 
 
 Five o'clock tea is not a weakness of Borderer's, and 
 yet after Monday's performance at Baschurch the ladies 
 have made a dead set at him. " Oh, Mr. B. . . if we 
 had only known it was your habit to go home so early, 
 before the hounds had left off drawing for the day, oh, 
 of course we would have asked you, &c., &c." What is 
 the use of protestations when the only honest plea is one 
 of guilty? All the excuses about lame horses, disgust at 
 backward casts, and fatherly care for a daughter are as 
 chaff before the wind, when your delinquency is found 
 out. Of course they had a run after I left. " Sanford 
 Pool always holds a fox, and he went away over the most 
 unlikely line he could have done. Goodall did not get 
 away, and Mr. Herbert Wynn gave us a start down over 
 some deep ploughs to Knockin. We hardly knew where 
 we were going. Some farmer talked about America, and 
 I thought we were going to emigrate across the Severn. 
 There were knowing men shying at the water cresses and 
 bogs. There vv^as the poor neglected Potteries Eailway 
 to be crossed, and then to the left almost to the river 
 opposite Loton Park, where a train fever seized upon our 
 commanders, and this curious and unlikely run came to an 
 end, much to the relief of all but some half dozen who 
 knew their whereabouts, and could steer clear of nature's 
 obstacles in this seldom hunted vale, above which Severn 
 and Verniew mingle their waters." 
 
 While thus disappointment had been the portion of the 
 majority of Sir Watkinites, the Shropshire, by the rule of 
 contraries were revelling in a fine bunting run. Ellerton 
 Hall was the meet, and the master, having sprained his 
 thigh, had to delegate his orders to Colonel Masefield. 
 The hounds were trotted straight to Mr. Burton Bu rough's, 
 covert — Deep Dale, which was blank ; but Ohetwynd 
 Heath produced a brace — a lame and barren vixen 
 
Gnosall — Cound — Whitchurch. 89 
 
 received her quietus instantly, but the hounds soon 
 settled on to a grand dog fox that went away over the 
 brook by Deep Dale, and turned to Ercall 'Heath. They 
 raced him through it, and over the river at Tibberton 
 osier bed, pointing for Shray Hill. Here a false halloa 
 lost us an important ten minutes, and our fox ran the 
 road towards the Wild Moors. Thatcher, however, held 
 the hounds forward to the big covert, and hit his line 
 again heel way. The knowing ones declared it was a 
 fresh fox, but Thatcher stood his ground quietly in spite 
 of the murmurers, had the hounds turned to him, and 
 proved himself a huntsman (a rej)roof to the scoffers) by 
 setting us right all through the Wild Moors, where 
 hounds ran splendidly up to Eyton Mill. Here our fox 
 had lain down, p.nd they raced him to ground in the 
 Parson's garden at Kynnersley — got him out and ate him, 
 as the hounds richly deserved blood after such a good 
 hunting run of two hours and twenty minutes, the greater 
 part of it straight. Mr. Borough has reason to be proud 
 of having found them such a fine old fox. 
 
 Tuesday, at Gnosall Station, I hear that Ranton pro- 
 duced the same fox as on previous occasions had defeated 
 them, and his tactics were as devious and successful as 
 heretofore. Of the afternoon run I could get no par- 
 ticulars, as my informant had a train to catch. 
 
 My Cheshire Tuesday budget has not come to hand, but 
 no doubt Mr. Corbet gave an excellent entertainment, in 
 fact it was so good, the papers say, that it nearly killed 
 Captain Park Yates, his neigbouring M. F. H. in North 
 Cheshire, an d considerably shook up Lord Alexander Paget. 
 
 The Shropshire, Wednesday, at Cound was, I under- 
 stand the scene of a good hunting run, which eventually 
 found its termination beyond Cressage Park, where a 
 staunch fox beat them. 
 
 Thiu-sday at Whitchurch. Probably the last, and by 
 no means the least eventful of the season. When we say 
 that Ash Wood was the first piece in the play it is equal to 
 asserting that the morning was not wasted in coffee- 
 housing. In fact a fox was so quickly away, and Good all 
 after him with a few couple of hounds, that a part of t he 
 field who were listening to the rest running another in 
 covert, had to be satisfied with a back seat over that nice 
 bit of jumping country to Cloverley big wood. Here 
 forces Were joined, and a fox hunted on through the Park 
 
90 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 and down to Styclie, wliere somehow or other he was lost. 
 Another was forthcoming hard by, but was not destined 
 for much fun. Shavington was vainly tried, and no- 
 wonder after the frequent calls on it of late. There was 
 only Cloverley Gorse, that had already l^een partially 
 disturbed, on which to fall back. Here a good-natured 
 afternoon fox had waited, and went away to Cloverley 
 Wood and Park, then to the left into Shavington, without 
 entering the big wood, emerged near the wooden gates on 
 the west for Stokes Wood, which he left to the left and 
 gave us the cream of the day, as all the Avaj he ran at a 
 good pace to L;idmore Lane, then to the right over the 
 big fields to Wilkesley, and over the road, as if for 
 Brooks' Mill, passed Lord Hopetoun's covert, and 
 managed to win the battle by getting to ground at 
 Browne's Bank, close to Audleni, after a delightful run 
 fi.r those with second horses, lasting about an hour. If 
 this stout fox does not fall a victim to Mr. Corbet he will 
 be an able champion for the Cloverley side next season. 
 Blood-thirsty as Borderer is, he loves to see some old 
 foxes survive at the end of a season. This is their 
 most trying time, as they begin to run jadily, and 
 cannot stand the racket of the past month or two. 
 No master or huntsman should forget that a few sur- 
 viving old foxes are the backbone of his sport up to 
 Christmas next season. 
 
 Thursday at High Ercall with the Shropshire is 
 generally well patronised, and to-day was not an excep- 
 tion ; and yet the Ercall country has singularly failed 
 to maintain its reputation for sport this season. There 
 has been a scarcity of the true article, for I cannot 
 call that Eowton Gorse fox of a month ago by any other 
 name than a mangey cur. It was all blank to-day, and 
 it was not till Thatcher got to Ellerdine that there was 
 any cheeriness in the day's proceedings. Here matters 
 mended at once, for a fox well found soon had to make 
 tracks for Morgan's Pool, and on as if for Wythyford,, 
 then short right-handed to the Hazels at a rattling pace. 
 With the old grey once more acting as a pilot, they 
 hesitated not, crossing the road and racing straight to 
 Hawkstone where he vainly pushed himself into a rabbit 
 hole a few yards in front of the leading hounds, in thirty 
 five minutes from the find, and was dragged out and 
 eaten. A very satisfactory gallop. 
 
The Wynnstay Meet. 91 
 
 On Saturday there were rival attractions, for the 
 devotees of hunting, who are now counting the few 
 remaining days on their fingers ; they could either go to 
 the Plough inn at Weston with the Albrighton, or to 
 Wynnstay and witness the interesting presentation to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Wynn of Sir Watkin's picture, as 
 a wedding gift from the members of the hunt. Incli- 
 nation for one other good day carried several waverers to 
 the Albrighton, while duty and public spirit demanded 
 the sacrifice, if such it could be called, of joining the 
 great hunting array that went up the avenue at Wynnstay 
 to add another token of gratitude to, and devotion for 
 the fine old Baronet, who has contributed through a 
 long career more to the pleasures of fox-hunters than any 
 living man on this side of the Border. This sounds tall 
 talking, but is perfectly true, and when we reflect, as 
 reflect we must occasionly, that all this has been done in 
 a princely way for love, and not money ; when we 
 remember that the luide stretching Wynnstay Country has 
 been ivell hunted from one extremity to the other fornearly 
 half a century by Sir Watkin at his own expense, where 
 can we look for his compeer in these degenerate days ? 
 No wonder that they came trooping, horse and foot, by 
 train and carriages, to add one more testimony of family 
 devotion, as well as to cheer the rising generation. 
 
 The bright sunshine lent its aid to make the Park and 
 its surroundinsfs look their best, and when I sav that ai^e 
 and youth of both sexes was fully represented from. 
 Shropshire, Cheshire, Flintshire, Denbighshire, and 
 Mongomery shire, my readers will understand without 
 my adding a list of names that few well-known faces 
 were absent in the great entrance hall at the unveiling of 
 Herkomer's touching picture. Mr. Kenyon spoke quietly 
 and sensibly of the feeling tint had prompted the gift, 
 and Mr. Herbert Wynn made a short and manly reply on 
 behalf of his wife, the reci]>ient of this invaluable heirloom 
 of the future. Sir Watkiu bravely essayed to say a few 
 words in response, but the effort was beyond his powers 
 of speech, and but a faint echo of that usually strong 
 voice could be caught by the hundreds of eager listeners 
 that thronged around him. Indeed, Borderer could scarce 
 refrain from dropping a tear over the dear old sportsman's 
 effort to pour forth once more his gratitude to his friends, 
 and bespeak a helping hand in the future for those most 
 
9.2 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES, 
 
 dear to him, who were destined to prolong the name and 
 fame of the family. To turn from the moving Lps and 
 heaving breast of the invalid to the picture was a relief, 
 and the effort of many to hide their feelings was only too 
 apparent. lS"obody was forgotten on the occasion, and it 
 was quite one o'clock before the hunt breakfast was over, 
 and Goodall, with the dog pack, trotted off to draw the 
 hanging woods that border the park above the Dee. Few 
 but the over eager ones seemed to care, vs^hen after 
 about twenty minutes drawing a view halloa proclaimed 
 a fox to be on foot. Still less chance did he seem to have 
 of effecting his escape, so that after a scamper across a 
 deep dingle, and up to a nice house overlooking the river, 
 people set to work to a comfortable middle-day gossip, 
 heedless of the fact that Goodall and the hounds had 
 managed to slip back up a side dingle, cross the avenue; 
 race up to the Park wall, where a good wild fox had 
 managed to scale it up some ivy, luckily close to a lodge, 
 and pop across the main road into the open beyond. 
 Borderer is seldom caught napping in this way, and he 
 congratulated himself on being one of about a score who 
 were able to catch hold of their horses' heads in the first 
 grass field, well in the w^ake of that never-to-be-denied 
 physician. It looked all over a run as we swept along the 
 grass, and hunted up to a farm-house. A ploughman, 
 two fields ahead, gave us a holloa, and down we went 
 over some respectable fences into the lower ground, 
 crossed a second road, and ran three more fields on the 
 grass into another road parallel with a brook— a check 
 here ended at once our hopes of a ran, for Goodall 
 declined to give our fox credit for good intentions, which 
 I think he had, and would not believe in his having gone 
 forward. The country was new to me, but I fancy we 
 were pointing for Wrexham. After we checked, up came 
 the majority of the galloj^ing, thrusting field, wondering 
 whatever could have come over the mind of this Park fox 
 to go away in this style. An afternoon fox from a cover 
 between here and Brynypys gave us a fast scurry over an 
 awkward line intersected with dingles, to ground near the 
 river, and then we drew up to Overton Bridge, w^hich, I 
 believe, they crossed in search of yet further sport at five 
 o'clock in the afternoon, but Borderer's discretion bid 
 him homewards bend, pondering over the morning's 
 event, rather than on the afternoon's sport. And hide it 
 
^S'Cdhll^C-U^ 
 
 AN HA BIT TIE. 
 
 AN HAP.TTTTK 
 
Wynnstay Bcficctions. 93 
 
 how he might, he eould not help sadly thinking that 
 Goodall's successor would, in all probability, begin his 
 duties under a new regime, and that, ere another season, 
 Sir Watkin would resign the reins of mastership into the 
 hands of his daughter's husband, of whom, let me say, 
 that much as he undoubtedly has to learn, there are the 
 makings of a true sportsman in him. He does not lack 
 keenness, is fond of the hounds, and takes great notice of 
 what they are doing. This, combined with plenty of 
 pluck, must be a great aid to a young man taking such a 
 country as the Wynnstay, but Borderer will be foi given I 
 know, if in the \indest spirit in the world, he might 
 humbly suggest that there are still other aims and virtues 
 which make an M.F.H. dear to his friends and his 
 country. Among these are affability in its proper place, 
 and courteousiiess always, even when touching the curb 
 rein of a fields vaulting ambition. And even more than 
 this, where sport is concerned, a good understanding with 
 his huntsman is essential, and a non-interference with 
 him in the field. A first-rate servant is indispensable at 
 Wynnstay — then trust him, and leave the result to fate. 
 I sincerely hope Goodall will get a good place. He is 
 young, and has many excellent points that a huntsman 
 should have. Borderer fancies that, with one great 
 failing out of the way, he would be hard to beat. 
 Winning a little more the trust of his hounds, and 
 pushing more forward on the line of his fox, especially 
 over ticklish scenting ground, so as to pick him up again 
 on the grass, where an improved scent encourages hounds^ 
 and adds to the life of a run as much as it diminishes 
 that of a fox. But Borderer is lecturing with the ven- 
 geance, for which he will probaply get no thanks, and 
 many reproaches. It all comes of this March atmosphere, 
 and the sad reflection that, in another week or two, " his 
 occupation will be gone," and that " Horses and Hounds '* 
 will have to disappear from your pages, Mr. Eddowes, for 
 a long season ! 
 
 If Borderer had only ubicjuity he could have told you 
 this week and last something of Ludlow and the United 
 doings, as well as something of the old Wheatland, but 
 secondhand accounts are often better than nothing. Here 
 is a hint to friends, which they can take or not as they like. 
 A faint echo has indeed reached me of a Kyre fox, killed 
 at Shelsley, in the Worcestershire country, by the 
 
94 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 Ludlow, wliich sounds like a good hunt. Perhaps I 
 may have yet another good woodland run to speak of ere 
 this chronicle closes. 
 
 TWENTY-FIRST WEEK— March 16 to 21. 
 
 The racing season has fairly opened, and soon after 
 this is in print the first great Handicap at Lincoln will 
 have been decided. 
 
 The Grand National Steeplechase is not likely to draw 
 together such a large field as at first appeared probable, as 
 several have pegged out. The late owner of Belmont, 
 Major Meysey Thompson, has written an extraordinary 
 letter to the sporting papers, saying that he understands 
 Belmont has been pitched upon by a coterie of betting 
 men, and is not to be allowed to win. The position of the 
 horse in the market lends some colour to the assertion, and 
 truly Irishmen are capable of as great roguery as any 
 people I could name. 
 
 Hunting seems to be coming to an end this year sooner 
 than usual. Frosty nights and bright days have almost put 
 their veto upon it, and we seem to be struggling on with 
 difficulty until the close of the montu, when, un- 
 doubtedly, the majority of the breeches and boots will go 
 into disuse for a few months. Nevertheless there has 
 been a flicker of sport since I last dropped my pen, and it 
 cannot be passed by unheedingiy. 
 
 Hawkstone has certainly established, or rather re- 
 established, itself this season as the home of foxes, and is a 
 fixture that has invariably produced sport. Not one bad 
 day has it afforded from the opening one of the season. 
 Last Monday, the big lake dam at once became the scene 
 of activity, and a fox from there obligingly left the park, 
 near the North Lodge, and crossed into Wyrley Rough. 
 Not dwelling here, he gave his followers a taste of 
 enclosed country that brought out their jumping powder, 
 nearly to Frees Heath ; then to the right, skirting the 
 Twemlows, to Sandford Pool, where hounds checked. 
 Thatcher, however, hit him off cleverly in the big fields 
 beyond, and once more they rattled away over the Market 
 Drayton road, and down to the Losford Brook, near 
 where Sir Watkin Wynn's hounds crossed it a few weeks 
 
Sam Bridge — Alcliam Bridge. 95 
 
 back. Here, amongst otliers, a scion of the Thatclier 
 family successfully Ijegan his brook jumpino- — the lad 
 promises well. Unfortunately tins fox beat them soon 
 after, as unaccounteclly as his compeer, or probably he 
 himself, had done when hunted by Sir Watkin. I fancy 
 he doubled back into the Sandpit earth near Bletchley 
 village. Anyhow, Losford Gorse provided another, and 
 away they went, Hodnet way, then to the left, crossed the 
 brook low down near the railway. A ford saved very 
 much grief, but the peaty meadows en route to Styche 
 tried everyone's nerves who meant going straight, as 
 hounds ran well up to Styche, and onto Shavington, close 
 to which No. 2 went to ground. A nice gallop. A long 
 trot back to the Twemlow, and then a fox was quickly 
 found that also proved himself to be a good one, as he 
 broke to the north, gave his pursuers a rare dusting, 
 leaving Ightfield village on his right, and slipping along 
 merrily on the grass to Ash, where, in the midst of the 
 steeplechase course, he managed to find a hole in which 
 to ensconse himself and be safe — as the Shropshire were 
 outside their country. This was a very smart gallop, but 
 a second horse was required to thoroughly enjoy it, after 
 the morning's work. No. 4 in the Twemlow proved a 
 vixen, and so was saved — bringing to end a good day. 
 
 Sarn Bridge, with Sir Watkin, was, I believe, a red 
 letter day, but I have gained few particulars, and am 
 unable to retail it properly. A fox from Taylor's Rough, 
 I believe went to Maesfen, Bickley, and Cholmondeley, 
 merely skirting which he turned to the right down to 
 Wrenbury Frith, where l>e was killed — of course in 
 Cheshire country. This run looks web on the map, and 
 must have been fast, as it only lasted an hour. 
 
 Wednesday at Atcham Bridge with the Shropshire, and 
 Broughton with Sir Watkin, were decided failures from 
 one and the same cause — failure of foxes and want of 
 scent. Attingham Hall coverts have grown very bare at 
 this season of the year, and the withy beds are being cut, 
 so that a dog fox has no encouragement to lie there, and 
 the vixens and their earths were wisely not disturbed. 
 Longner has been unlucky all the season. Haughmond 
 Hill in the afternoon was more fortunate, but the day had 
 grown colder, and worse in every respect. We managed 
 to hunt one down to the Abbey, where he dodged us. 
 Holly Coppice set us a going again, with, I think, the 
 
:V6 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 same fox that came back across the hill fast to its lowest 
 point, opposite Longiior, where Thatcher viewed one fox 
 going back along the bottom, and got a portion of the 
 pack on him, while the rest, unknown to him, showed a 
 line of their fox straight for Longner. They were 
 stopped, and we tried to hunt through a blinding 
 snowstorm back to the feundorne Pool, where our fox was 
 supposed to have been view^ed, but hounds said nay, and 
 the rest of the afternoon was a fruitless quest through 
 Sundorne and Battlefield woods. So, cold and wet, we 
 scuttled home. 
 
 On Friday at Berwick Hall. The photographer was the 
 earliest arrival at the meet. He had previously tried his 
 hand at Atcham, but, I suppose, failed. How is it that 
 horses and hounds hardly ever can be done justice to in a 
 ^photograph ? The meet was a large one, but the required 
 . ani nal was conspicuous by his absence at Almond Park, 
 Hencote Pool, and all adjoining places, and Mr Arthur 
 Lloyd only just saved his bacon at Leatoii by a fox 
 jumping up at the extreme corner of Pitz Coppice when 
 Thatcher was drawing out his hounds. He ran back 
 down to the home farm by the church to the station, and 
 no trace of him could be ensured further, so bad was the 
 scent. Bomere Heath, Merrington and the Walford 
 • coverts were l)lank, and so ended a very bad day. What 
 is undoubtedly wanted in Shropshire is a gorse covert 
 planted here and there, which at this time of year, and 
 indeed always after Christmas, would be invaluable as a 
 holding place for foxes. Three or four are required in the 
 south, and the same number on the north ; on the north, 
 one on the outskirts of the Berwick property, 
 one at Walford, one beyond Middle, near Shinglers, 
 and one near Coton Hall. On the south, one 
 just outside Attingham Park, on the Wroxeter 
 side, one near E-odington, one at Lythwood, and one 
 near the Cross Gates. I am glad to hear that the hunt 
 has agreed to lease Ercall Heath, a large place, ana well 
 placed for foxes in the Monday country, but too far 
 distant from Shrewsbury. This is a step in the right 
 direction. It should not be forgotten, however, that now 
 is the time to sow a gorse covert, and that it is a matter of 
 no difficulty if rabbits are kept off it the first year. Why 
 cannot our two county hunt clubs do something to 
 encourage hunting by offering to rent a few gorse coverts 
 
MR. C. W. WICKSTED. 
 
Tlic Ludlotv — Good Day from Ho2)ton Park. 97 
 
 if made ? This would be a lift to foxhunting, for which 
 they would be gaining genuine thanks, and I am sure the 
 Shropshire ladies are such good sportswomen that they 
 will back up Borderer in this. Sir Vincent Corbet has 
 set a very good example in this matter, but I regret to say 
 that except Rowton, on the Duke of Cleveland's land at 
 High Ercall, there is not, to my knowledge, another 
 thriving young gorse in the country. A rumour reaches 
 me of one about to be planted at Pitchford. Well done 
 Colonel Cotes ; set an example, and I trust there will be- 
 plenty of followers. 
 
 The rej)ort of one other sterling good day reaches me to 
 add to the long list of Ludlow successes this season. A 
 real wild hill run, every yard of which I can follow with 
 delight. Hopton Park was the starting point, the Mynde 
 Scrubs was skirted, and down over the Bucknell Brook to 
 Bull Hill, then over Stowe Hill, through heath that 
 always carries a rare scent, over HoUoway Rocks, and just 
 skirting the upper end of Coedetton, leaving Skyborry on 
 their left to Selly Hall, and straight on by the side of 
 Offa's Dyke to Trebert, where this gallant fox could flee 
 Eo longer, and sat up like a Soudanese Arab to meet his 
 fate, after one of the finest straightaway runs these 
 hounds have ever enjoyed. It could not le an inch less 
 than a 12-mile point, all over open hill country, and the 
 pace was a cracker the whole way. What could a genuine, 
 sportsman like Mr. Wicksted want better than this ? and 
 every member of his field appi-eciates such a run as this 
 quite as much without jumping as with it. He was killed 
 some miles in the United country, and it is well that this 
 stout breed of Clun Forest foxes is not extinct. 
 
 Next week will, I fear, see a complete wind up of the 
 season hereabouts, although I hear there ir to be a last 
 meet at Wrekin about Easter. 
 
 TWENTY SECOND WEEK— Maech 23 to 28. 
 
 Sportsmen are proverbially charitable. It only needs to 
 set the ball rolling in the hunting field, or wherever silk 
 and scarlet assemble, and aid to many a good work is 
 always freelv given. I need therefore but mention to my 
 readers the National Aid Society, with the Princess of 
 
98 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 Wales at its head, and the purposes for which it is now 
 being put forward, viz., the welfare of our poor heat- 
 stricken and hard worked soldiers in Egypt, to win for 
 them a plentiful flow of subscriptions. The Countess of 
 Bradford is working on the Committee, so Shropshire is 
 directly represented among the Good Samaritans at the 
 head of this noble society. Don't let it therefore be said of 
 us that while we are breathing the pure fresh air of our 
 native land in peace and happiness, we are unconscious or 
 forgetful of the duty we owe to our common humanity in 
 caring for those who are fighting our battles for us so 
 nobly in Egypt. Donations are to be sent, marked 
 ''Soudan and Egypt," to Messrs. Eansom, Bouverie and 
 Co., St. James's Street, London, and no doubt you, Mr. 
 Editor of Eddoioes's Journal, will also, with pleasure, 
 forward any local contributions to the fund that may be 
 entrusted to you. 
 
 The first two great races of the season, at Lincoln and 
 Liverpool, have resulted in the victory of favourites, and 
 there can be little doubt that in Bendigo and Eoquefort 
 the best horses won. The defeat of the Shropshire-bred 
 mare Zoedone, was, however, too bad to be true. 
 Throughout her previous career, she never knew how to 
 fall, but here she not only fell in the preliminary canter, 
 but bungled at every fence, and eventually lay down in a 
 ditch, more dead than alive. I fear she was nobbled by 
 some rascals, and her owners and friends did not have a 
 fair run for their money. 
 
 A general howl of disappointment was felt that the 
 Grand National Hunt Steeplechase, by the aid of Eienzi, 
 did not come into Shropshire. Better luck next time, 
 Colonel Cotes, is all we can say. 
 
 Shrewsbury races are for the present under a cloud. I 
 believe only a passing one, and that uiider county manage- 
 ment they will be brought off before the year is out. The 
 present difficulty has reference to the price to be paid to 
 the Earl of Tankerville for the straight mile, and it is 
 hoped that his lordship will see fit to accept reasonable 
 terms, rather than allow the land to resume its 
 ordinary agricultural value. 
 
 With the advent of spring, horse breeders should be 
 thinking of mating their mares, and I trust that our 
 Shropshire farmers will consider that breeding hunters 
 and roadsters is likely to pay better in the next year 
 
Hunting Sires in SJiropsJiire. 09 
 
 than it has done in the past. Inasmuch as there is 
 such an acknowleged scarcity of good horses, that their 
 price is sure to rise in the market. I have thought 
 it worth while to give a Hst of the hunter sires 
 that I know of in the locahty, and shall be happy 
 to supplement it next week, if particulars are sent me. 
 Alphabetically, they are as follow : — 
 Canterbury, by Cathedral, out of Queen of Trumps ; 
 
 near Wellington. 
 Cardinal York, by Newminster, out of License (by Game- 
 boy) ; near Oswestry. 
 Linnasus, by Stathconan, out of Sweet Violet (by Volti- 
 
 guer) ; at Mr. Litt's, Shrewsbury. 
 Mayfly, by Underhand, out of Debonnaire ; at Oswestry. 
 Polardine, by Beadsman, out of Eegalia (by Stockwell) ; 
 
 at Lythwood, Shrewsbury. 
 Eoscius by the Eake, out of Tragedy, at Ludlow. 
 Sugarplum, by Saccharometer, out of Limeflower ; at 
 
 Shifnal. 
 Traveller, by Adventurer, out of Acropolis (by Citadel) ; 
 
 at Lea Bridge Kennels. 
 Victor 11. , by Victor ; at Meole Brace, Shrewsbury. 
 Mr. T. C. Cotton has a French-bred horse at Ash, 
 
 called Montresor, whose pedigree I forget. 
 
 It would be found an excellent plan to have a sire 
 show every spring in the county, giving prizes to sires of 
 every class that will stand in the county for the ensuing 
 season, at reasonable fees. This plan has answered 
 remarkably well in Suffolk, and is acknowledged to 
 have improved the breeding j)i-'ospects of that locality 
 more than anything else. 
 
 And now for yet a few more words on hunting. Scent 
 last week was remarkably good on the grass, as was 
 evidenced on Wednesday and Thursday. On the former 
 day, at Baschurch, Sir Watkin, who by the by I rejoice 
 to hear is rather better, began by chopping a fox — a 
 vixen I fear — close on the Shropshire border at Walford. 
 Then an incursion was made into the Lordship, and 
 America was invaded. A brace of foxes were found in this 
 beautiful but much too seldom visited covert, and one 
 looked like affording a run, as the hounds went like greased 
 lightning for ten minutes, until a drain blighted the hopes 
 of the enterprising emigrants. Grig Hill, in, the evening 
 wound up the day satisfactorily with a fast ring for 
 
100 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 thirty minutes which ended where it began, and a fresh 
 fox saved the hfe of Mr. Walford's original stager. 
 
 Thursday had duphcate attractions — a final Whitchurch 
 meet with Sir Watkin, or Yorton Station with the Shrop- 
 shire. Borderer had to be content with the home circuit, 
 and was not altogether discontented with his lot. How- 
 beit that sweet afternoon on the Ash pastures, which 
 never rode more beautifully since the flood, must have 
 been a treat to those who indulged in it. A Peel's 
 Gorse fox went straight to his master's kitchen garden, 
 at Hinton, for his sanctuary. An Osmere fox popped 
 into Combermere, and then to Marbury, where he was 
 lost. And by way of a wind up, an Ash warrior circled 
 towards Cloverly and back, then to the Walk Mill and 
 Wilksley, with a true band of revelrie over the grass at 
 his brush, again skirted Cloverley, and saved himself 
 close to Ightfield by going to ground, in something over 
 an hour. Although lie did not describe a straight line 
 on the map, from a hunting and scenting point of view, 
 he could scarcely have gone better. For this reason at 
 least Ash Gorse has nobly maintained its character. 
 Yorton station drew together a fair field, considering 
 that its competitor was Whitchurch, but nothing por- 
 trayed the weaning season so much as the few pink coats, 
 and the increase of mufties. Broughton Gorse did not 
 respond to our expectations, but a trot back to the Black 
 Birches was productive of a sweet chorus. So unpleas- 
 antly near, indeed, w^as it to Buggy's brush, that when 
 he jumped into the road on the Pimhill side, only to be 
 headed by a man who persistently stopped there for the 
 purpose, hounds and he were actuliy there together. 
 The clever fellow squatted down, and the hounds dashed 
 on over the fence, and one half of them went two fields 
 before they could be stopped. Some said it was a hare, 
 but this I do not believe. The probability is that 
 another fox had stolen away just before the hounds 
 entered the covert. This curious contretemps saved our 
 fox's life, for he popped back and went away under high 
 pressure from the other half of the pack, over the railway, 
 across Sansaw Park, and over the Grinshill Eoad, as if 
 for Acton Eeynald, but inclining to the right, we saw our 
 fox a field ahead of us, picking his way through Mr. Bibby's 
 ewes and lambs, and on we went like fun in front of 
 Hard wick Grange, and still to the right, swinging back. 
 
WhitcJmrch — Yorton Station. 101 
 
 over the railway, where some bold man preferred a leve 1 
 
 crossing, and an encounter with the Manchester expres s 
 
 to a handy bridge. Our fox tried the drain that gav e 
 
 him shelter last time, but to-day admittance was denied , 
 
 and he had to put his best leg forward to keep the bitches 
 
 out of the same field with him up to Preston Gubbalds, 
 
 which he left a field to his left, and went on by the Park 
 
 Farm to Pimhill, to ground. At least, so thought the 
 
 huntsman. Anyhow there was a line on through th e 
 
 covert, and no time was lost in getting the hounds well 
 
 on it. Breaking at the top, Park Farm was again visited, 
 
 and bhotton reached, where we had a check. The fox 
 
 had run the road, and gone Harmar Hill way. Thatcher 
 
 stuck to him in good style — drove him out at the bottom 
 
 below tlie quarries, and before three fourths of the field 
 
 knew what had happened, he and the hounds, with half 
 
 a dozen followers, were at Middle Park, and out again for 
 
 Merrington, where in a few fields the end came, as he 
 
 dodged us on some newly sown ground, and his line could 
 
 not be recovered ; a pretty hunting run of one hour and 
 
 fifteen minutes, fast up to Pimhill. Just at the last, 
 
 Borderer found himself entrapped in some of the most 
 
 dangerous wire, carefully entwined in the fences, so as to 
 
 be totally invisible until we were close upon it. Indeed, 
 
 had not Thatcher, who happily knew of its existence 
 
 beforehand, shouted " Ware wire," another case of 
 
 " over " would undoubtedly have arisen. The malefactor 
 
 is a Mr. Kynaston, a farmer, who came out and leaned on 
 
 his gate, probably in the happy expectation of having to 
 
 pick up the bits. We then trotted away to Preston 
 
 Gubbalds, where I need hardly say Mr. Sparrow had a fox 
 
 for us, but it proved a vixen, and the hounds were 
 
 stopped before any damage was done. Sir Vincent 
 
 Corbet's gorse held a brace that were on their legs the 
 
 moment the hounds entered. Luckily this time the vixen 
 
 slipped back unheeded by the pack, and in another 
 
 minute a fine dog fox took the open for Matthew's 
 
 Coppice, and we were away on excellent terms with him. 
 
 Through the upper end of this covert he went, and then 
 
 out as if for Lea Wood, but not crossing the road, turned 
 
 right handed between Moreton Corbet and Shawbury, 
 
 and beat us in the self same spot as our Pointon Spring 
 
 fox did some weeks back, with his head pointing for 
 
 Wythyford Wood. It puzzles me to think what this 
 
102 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 fox's dodge is at this point, as it all appears plain sailing, 
 and there is no apparent reason for scent failing so 
 suddenly. Thus ended a very pretty gallop, and by no 
 means a bad day. 
 
 I heard a good story in the field of a farmer, who lost 
 a lamb the other day, and of course its death was put 
 down to a fox. Further research, however, revealed the 
 poor little brute in the ditch of an adjoining field in a 
 very weak state. The only thing to do to save its life 
 was a " go " of whiskey, but the master was a 
 teetotaller, and he had co rush off to a neighbour for the 
 necessary draught, and so the truth came out. Foxes 
 are not to be killed this time wrongfully. 
 
 The account of a good run reaches me from the 
 Eadnorshire and West Hereford, in which the Wolf pits 
 plantation above New Eadnor, and bordering on Sir 
 Herbert Lewis's grouse hills was the place of departure. 
 This fine old mountain fox went due eastward to 
 Gladestry and Kingswood, then, circling round, came back 
 over Hargest Eidge and the racecourse, to Worzel, and 
 Stanner Eocks, which afforded him no safety to-day, and 
 they killed him in capital style in the turnpike road, at 
 Bilmore, after a run of two hours and fifty minutes. 
 
 TVV^ENTY-THIRD WEEK— April 1 to 6. 
 
 I should have mentioned last week that the folloAvdng' 
 ladies are collecting subscriptions for the National Aid 
 Society in Shropshire : — The Countess of Bradford, Mrs. 
 Arthur LLoyd, of Leaton Knolls, and Mrs. Spencer 
 PhilHps, of the Mount. 
 
 Bangor Steeplechases will have been a thing of the past 
 ere this is in print, and they promise to be as locally 
 popular as ever. The course is, I hear, a big one, and the 
 fields are not likely to be large. Easter week is so full of 
 meetings in every part of England that horseflesh, not 
 being ubiquitous, has too many calls made upon it to show 
 up in very strong numbers anywhere. The absence of Sir 
 Watkin will be painfully felt ; and indeed his state of 
 health is such as to cause earnest solicitude throughout 
 
Tivo Barigors — a True Story. 108 
 
 Shropshire and North Wales. Where shall we look for 
 his like again ? 
 
 A thorough knowledge of geography is necessary to a 
 wonld-be visitor to Bangor. Not many years back a 
 sporting resident in the Midlands decided to run his 
 horse there. He consulted. Bradshaw, chose his route, 
 telegraphed for a bed, and box for his horse, and in due 
 time arrived before nightfall. Capital quarters^an 
 excellent hotel ! " What other horses have arrived ? " 
 The Ostler : " None, sir." " How lucky ! Mostly trained 
 in the neigbbourhood, I suppose ? " " Don't know, sir." 
 " Humph. How far is the course from the town ? " 
 " Can't exactly say, sir." " Well, the races come of to- 
 morrow, don't they ? " " No, sir ; our races generally 
 take place in the summer." " The deuce — where ? " 
 '"Yonder, sir," pointing to the fading blue waves of the 
 Menai Straits. Away rushed the infuriated owner to 
 consult the landlord, and find out where the mythical 
 sporting Bangor really was. In the result a night 
 journey had to be undertaken back to Chester, and 
 Bangor course was just reached in time for the race in 
 which he had entered. This he nobly won, and grumbled 
 not over the extra cost, which his ignorance of localities 
 had entailed on him. For the future, however, he always 
 tells his pals to go to Bangor in Flintshire, if they want to 
 see a fine steeplechase course, and to eschew Bangor slates 
 and yacht racing ! 
 
 I find I made an omission in my list of hunting sires 
 last week, which I hasten to correct. I forgot that 
 " Quits," by Eestitution out of Worthless, by Gemmi de 
 Yergy, was standing at Shifnal — a premier among hunters 
 in his day, and a rare stamp of a horse. " Traveller," 
 standing at Lea Bridge, close to the kennels, appears 
 without any name tn the Stud Book, but is well-bred 
 enough for anything, and I hoj)e is destined to make a 
 good name for himself in the district. 
 
 A meeting has, I understand, been called for Saturday 
 next, by circular, inviting the aid of the county gentlemen 
 of Shropshire in the resuscitation of Shrewsbury Races. H 
 the county and town join hands over this imjjortant 
 sporting business there can be little donbt that success 
 will crown the edifice. On the other hand, its obliteration 
 from the list of old county fixtures will be a lasting dis- 
 grace, seeing how favourably it is placed for sport in all 
 
104 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES 
 
 its brandies. The finest turf, a beautiful natural country 
 for steeplecliasing, and splendid stands, all within a stone's 
 throw of the town, and central for railway and roads. 
 
 Hunting has flickered through another week, and its 
 dying embers must be as carefully swept up, and as 
 tenderly cared for, as its first opening flames were 
 nurtured. 
 
 Sir Watkin, at Woodhill, resolved on a hill day, but, 
 after chopping a fox and being thoroughly starved, 
 second thoughts proved best, and As ion Gorse was 
 sought. Here ills accumulated ; its popular owner, 
 ignorant of the afternoon's intentions, was absent, and a 
 dead fox was found, so the day ended as inauspicously as 
 it began. A post-mortem revealed the fact that Keynard's 
 death was due to natural causes, and the Colonel breathes 
 freely once more. 
 
 Wednesday, at Pitch ford and Edge Green respectively, 
 was famous for its pitiless rain, which drenched its 
 votaries coldly ani thoroughly. A fox at Cantlop warmed 
 the Shropshire blood for a few minutes, while hounds ran 
 fast to Condover Park wall, declining which he turned for 
 Pitchford, was chased by a sheep dog, and vanished in 
 the watery element. Nothing at Goldings, Eaton Mascott, 
 or Bomere, and so cheerlessly home, Edge Green had 
 scarcely a better tale to tell, as scent was not good enough 
 to make foxes run straight, and everybody was glad to get 
 home and into a hot bdth, 
 
 Thursday, at Battlefield. By this time the battle of the 
 elements had passed by, and sunshine proclaimed a well- 
 won victor}^ — such a contrast as only an English climate 
 could show. To-day the fine weather sportsmen, whose 
 heads were yesterday hid under their wings, came out like 
 butterflies in troops to jeer at the unfortunates, who had 
 had the hardihood to venture yesterday from their firesides ! 
 A fox soon made his appearance in a covert to the west of 
 the railway, and great was the charge of cavalry at the 
 first hv' 7 fence, and down a heavy plough parallel with 
 the rai^v-y, which the fox crossed spreading more con- 
 fusion -imongst the field, which, however, was very 
 shortlived, far he had no sooner got over the Hadnal 
 road on to the grass than he sold us, by going to ground 
 in a drain. An application of cold water was decided 
 upon to cure him of this propensity, the very idea of 
 which made him bolt. This time straight into Mr. Ward's 
 
Last Day at Battlefield, . lO^ 
 
 Hower garden, tlireadiiig the village and back over the 
 railway, as if Preston Giil:)bald was his point, but in truth 
 the brute had no such good intention, for he wriggled 
 about opposite Hadnal village, and eventually found 
 another drain under the railway, where we gladly left him, 
 opinions differing about his sex. As a rule a Shropshire 
 field is anxious to avoid doing damage at this time of 
 year, and Borderer regrets to have to record a case to-day 
 of wilfully riding over a wheat field without any necessity. 
 The crop was a forward one, and had been rolled — the 
 transgressor was appealed to by a leading member of the 
 hunt, but he persisted in crossing the whole of it without 
 the slightest necessity. I shall take a leaf out of 
 Mr. Speaker's book, therefore, and name him — a Mr. 
 Steadman, hailing, I believe, from Shrev^sbury. Another 
 fast sportsman jumped into a field right in front of the 
 hounds, but this, I believe was accidental, and his 
 punishment came swiftly, as the whole field saw it, and 
 made their comments accordingly. A second fox was not 
 set on his legs through Battlefield woods till we came to 
 the keeper's plantations at the back of Sundorne, where a 
 nice-looking fox trotted gaily away by the Abbey, and 
 into Haughmond Hill, swinging to the left for Holly 
 Coppice. Here, however, the clever division had already 
 clattered down the road in front of him, causing us a 
 check, and deciding our fox to alter his route, straight 
 back, the way we had come, except that he crossed below 
 the Abbey, and then broke out of the line of plantations 
 by a farm, of which I forget the name, straight on to the 
 Shawbury road, where the hounds threw up, and declined 
 to own a line forward. Our fox had probably gone right- 
 handed for Shawbury Heath. Thatcher tried widely to 
 the left with no result. Pointon Springs was our third 
 successful venture for the day, and at once gave hope of 
 a gallop with the same fox that has certainly some 
 straight- going propensities. This afternoon he went 
 away in good style on his old line, but alas ! the Sundorne 
 keeper had placed himself at the end of the second covert, 
 and headed him. Thus confusion was created, and his 
 means of departure Shawbury way was barred by gallop- 
 ing sportsmen. There was nothing for it but to turn 
 back towards Sundorne, and get up the semblance of 
 excitement, to the covert on the top of the hill, where I 
 think he went to crround. A line was shown towards 
 
106 HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 
 
 Holly Coppice, but Borderer has his own reasons 
 for suspecting its genuineness. Thus ended our last 
 Thursday, and but for one more finishing day at 
 Hawkstone on Easter Monday, our season ends. 
 
 Sir Watkin will go on a little longer, and so will other 
 Shropshire packs, but unless a change of weather comes 
 it will be heartless work for huntsmen as well as hounds. 
 Fences, too,- are all being laid and mended for the 
 summer, gates fastened up, and farmers must have 
 consideration shown them. Hunting men owe them 
 much. Never in my agricultural experience have I seen 
 the wheat looking so strong and well ; while, as for the 
 spring crops, how could they promise better? The land 
 works like a garden, and sowing has been carried on 
 almost uninterruptedly for the last month. Everything 
 points to a fruitful season. 
 
 And now, my indulgent reader, "Au revoir." Like 
 Othello, " my occupation is gone," until once more 
 autumn comes round, and ''the horn of the- hunter is 
 heard on the hill." Each season, to the true sportsman, 
 as it closes, is another treasured record of the sweet past 
 — something to look back upon — something on which to 
 build an ever-shortening future. More precious as each 
 short winter and spring gather themselves into their 
 garner, never to return to us. Oh, my faithful friends, 
 turn not a deaf ear to the measured words of an elder, 
 who drank deeply of the Pirean spring of hunting — what 
 was true when he wrote sixty years ago, comes home 
 to us now with equal force. I will quote him. ''At a 
 time when all the world runs mad about foxhunting, I am 
 surprised so few gentlemen have learnt to enjoy it 
 rationally. The fashion of the present day is hard 
 riding, and at night, over the convivial board, their only 
 pleasure seems to be in relating the exploits or disasters 
 of their own or their friends' horses — not a word about 
 the best or worse hound in the pack, nor any idea ever 
 started to ascertain whether by system or by accident 
 they had contrived to carry a scent, say twenty miles, over 
 a country to kill a fox. How so great an event has been 
 achieved few modern sportsmen can with any degree of 
 ac3uracy relate. Many years ago I recollect a gentleman, 
 who kept ten horses in Leicestershire, and who had been 
 riding near me very often in a fine run, in which two 
 of the most interesting and beautiful things happened 
 
^^eil^C'^r^V;?^^^ 
 
 A GOOD ONE. 
 
 GOOD 'UNS. 
 
A Hunting Sermon. 107 
 
 that I ever remember to have seen. I remarked them 
 to hhn, therefore, when the run was over. " Good God, 
 sh'! " said he, **I saw nothmg of it.'' This man was a 
 Jiard rider, who, from his own account, saio nothing, 
 while riding his horse as hard as he could go, and as 
 near the hounds as he possibly could get— and how 
 should he ? For a man behind hounds cannot be a 
 judge of what is going on in front, and is the first person, 
 by pressing ujjou them, to bring them toa check. A good 
 sportsman will as often as possible ride parallel with 
 the pack, not after them, unless he is obliged to do 
 otherwise on account of their short turns. Thus he 
 will see all that is going on, and anticipate the probable 
 cause of hounds coming to a fault. Patience is the best 
 performer in the chase." 
 
 Here, my friends is a terse sermon on a favourite text. 
 Believe me we have all much to learn, when *' a hunting 
 we go." It is science that many a middle aged man is 
 only just beginning to grasp the true beauties of, as 
 bodily infirmities whisper to him that he can no longer 
 hope to be in the front ranks in these fast days. AH the 
 more reason then that youth should woo it systematically 
 and sensibly, while the dash of life is still able to carry 
 him through it to perfection. Thus will he build up a love 
 for the sport, which, as years roll on, the decline of 
 his riding powers will not lessen his hunting days, 
 nor deprive him of the pleasures of a good run. Through 
 life he will know, and be known as a good sportsman. 
 Not merely a man hunting to ride. 
 
 I have now said my say for the season 1884 and '85, 
 and can only in conclusion trust that whatever corns 
 have come occasionally under the pressure of my pen, 
 the owners thereof have been inclined to forgive, or at 
 all events to think leniently of my pecadillos— for be 
 assured that of ''malice aforethought " Borderer is 
 incapable. His pen, if it has outrun discretion, has 
 done so from over-abundant love of sport, to which 
 he has devoted much attention. 
 
 Shakespeare tells us " That the best men are moulded 
 out of faults," so all of us can take heart, and again I 
 must call my favourite old bard to my aid when he 
 says — 
 
 " Condemn the fault and not the actor of it." 
 If spared in health, strength, and pocket, for another 
 
lOH HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 
 
 season, I shall hope to renew these notes in dear old 
 Eddoioes's Journal, and so to create in a humble ;way a 
 treasury of hunting and sporting knowledge in Shropshire, 
 which will aspire to fulfil the words of Wordsworth, 
 when he says — 
 
 *' And when the stream 
 Which overflowed the soul was passed away, 
 A consciousness remained that it had left, 
 Deposited upon the silent shore 
 Of memory, Images, and precious thoughts. 
 That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed." 
 
 BOEDEKER. 
 
INDEX 
 
 ABBEYDOEE COURT, with the 
 
 South Herefordshire, 26. 
 Acton Burnell, a frosty morning 
 
 at, 30. 
 Acton Burnell, Nimrod at, 31. 
 Albrighton, the, 3. 
 
 at, Church Eaton 45. 
 „ Hadley,74. 
 
 Gnosall Station, 49. 
 Loynton, 74. 
 Prospects of, 38. 
 Penkridge, 85. 
 Stafford Castle, 36. 
 The Whittimores, 37 
 Allen, Mr. retirement of, 67. 
 America, Invasion of, 99. 
 Ash Wednesday, Conscientious 
 
 Scruples, 71, 
 Atcham Bridge, a large gathering 
 
 at, 7.; ' 
 Atcham Bridge, a fast run from, 51 
 
 BANGOR Steeplechases, 102. 
 Battlefield on Boxing Lay, 29. 
 Benthall, fox shot at, 61, 67. 
 Berwick Balls, the, 40. 
 
 „ day ; by a friend, 41. 
 Bomere Heath, a fast run from, 28 
 
 Braham Moor Meet, the, 76. 
 Braham Wood, 77. 
 Brown's Bank, at, with Mr. Corbet, 
 63. 
 
 CAYNHAM Camp, 9. 
 
 Close of the year, the, 32. 
 
 Cressage, digging out at, 39. 
 
 Cheshire, the, 3. 
 ,, South, 3. 
 ,, at Wrenbury, 46, 
 „ Sound Heath, 81. 
 
 Dead Lamb, a good story of, 102. 
 
 Eyton-in-Wild Moors, 59. 
 Egypt, a lament over, 68. 
 BUerton Hall, 10, 88. 
 Ercall Heath, the lease of, 96. 
 
 Foxes shot at Longnor, 18. 
 ,. found dead in a drain, 68. 
 at Woodhill, 104. 
 Fox, a, killed in a Station, 13. 
 Frozen-out Foxhunters, 29. 
 
 Gorse Coverts ; a suggestion, 96. 
 
 Hackney Society's show, 20. 
 Hardwicke Grange, disappoint- 
 ment at, 28. 
 
110 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Haughmond Abbey, a good run , 19. 
 Hawkestone, a red-letter day, at 94. 
 Hunting Sermon, a, 106. 
 
 „ Sires in Shropshire, 99. 
 
 '•John Peel" chorus in 
 
 Radnorshire, 75. 
 
 LlNN^US, AS A COUNTY SIRE, 87. 
 Loton Park, 15. 
 Ludlow, the, 3. 
 
 at Caynham, 45. 
 . -if .Gatley, 64. 
 
 „ Hopton Park, 97. 
 
 „ Kyre, 75. 
 
 a day with the, 64. 
 Lythwood, a blank day at, 18, 21. 
 
 Mytton, Jack; an anniversary, 
 70. 
 
 NiMROD at Acton Burnell, 31. 
 
 „ Sundorne. 33. 
 
 „ Ellesmere Ptoad, 33. 
 National Aid Society, the, 97. 
 
 Old Stories re-told. 33. 
 Opposition to Shrewsbury Races, 35 
 
 PiMHILL. A SPIN FROM, 73. 
 
 Pitchford, 10, 104. 
 Hall, 58. 
 
 Radnor, a fox killed near, 13. 
 Radnorshire and West Hereford, 4* 
 
 „ , a good run in, 102. 
 Rational Foxhunting ; a reminis- 
 cence, 106. 
 Roosting Fox, a, at Cruckton, 47. 
 "Running Devil" the, 83. 
 Ruyton-XI-Towns, a fair day, 54. 
 
 ShREWSBUKY PtACES, 9. 
 
 „ a step forward, 83. 
 
 ,. prospects of, 13. 
 
 „ opposition to. 35. 
 
 „ under a cloud, 98. 
 
 :, Racecourse, Lease 
 
 of, 32. 
 Shrop§|iire. the, 4. 
 
 ., at Acton Burnel, 71. 
 „ „ Atcham, 7, 51,82. 95* 
 
 „ Battlefield, 104. 
 „ „ Berwick Hall, 96. 
 „ „ Coton Hall, 17, 84. 
 „ „ Cound, 89. 
 „ „ Cressage, 36, 
 ,, .. C,hetwyn(a.,i:nd^49. 
 ,. .. Dorrington, 85. 
 „ EUerton Hall. 88. 
 ., Gnosall-, 88. 
 .. Hawkestone 5. 94. 
 ,. HighErcall,l6.32,90 
 „ „ Leaton Knolls, 72. 
 
 „ Lythwood, 18. 
 , „ Oiiilow, 21, 47. 
 ,, .. leplow Hall, 62. 
 ,, „ Shawbury, 15. 32. 52. 
 
 ., The Twemlows. 56. 
 ., „ Walford, 85. 
 
 „ Wem, 38. 
 „ ., Yorton Station, 100. 
 South County, the Hunting of 
 
 the, 53. 
 Spring Handicap Entries, 40. 
 Staffordshire North, 4. 
 South, 4. 
 Statistics, Turf, 17, 24. 
 Stutton Mill with the Bramham, 80 
 Sundorne, a merry night at. in 
 '25, 34. 
 
INDEX 
 
 111 
 
 Turf Statistics, 17, 24. 
 Tadcaster Bar with the Bram- 
 ham, 78. 
 
 United Pack, the, 4. 
 vulpicidi^m, 17. 
 
 Want to be supplied, a, 53. 
 
 Watkins', Sir, at Aldersey, 22. 
 
 Baschurch, 14, 87, 99. 
 ,, Broughton, 95. 
 
 ,, Garden, 44. 
 
 „ Ellerton, 36. 
 
 Maesfen, 5, 6, 39. 
 „ Old Oswestry, 47. 
 
 Kednal, 18. 
 ,, Sarn Bridge, 95. 
 
 „ Socket Gate, 40, 81. 
 
 West Felton. 36. 
 
 Watkins', Sir, at Whittington, 
 
 62, 69. 
 
 Whitchurch, 11, 1 
 23, 25, 29, 71, 89, 100. 
 Watkins', Sir, at Woodhill, 104. 
 Wedding Breakfast, a novel, 71. 
 Welshpool Steeplechases, 87. 
 Wheatland, the, 4. 
 Whittimores, the, a good draw at, 37 
 Wilkesley, at, with Mr. Corbet, 57. 
 Wrieht, Mr., Presentation to, 36. 
 Wynne, Mrs. Herbert, Presentation 
 
 to, 91. 
 Wynnstay meet, the, 91. 
 Reflections, 93. 
 
 York and Ainsty at Ribston 
 Park, 79. 
 
 Printed at the Office of " Ecldowes's Shrewsbury Journa'," Shrewsbury. 
 
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