130 MEMOIR OF 



Meynell's " Princess," attracted the special 

 admiration of all who witnessed her marvellous 

 sagacity and power of nose. She was perfect 

 in every way : in drawing, in driving, and in 

 line-hunting. With a w^ave of the hand from 

 Russell, she would draw a linhay, a pig-sty, or 

 any conceivable place in which a beaten fox 

 would try to conceal itself. 



It is related of her that, after a hard chase 

 in the Hatherleigh country, the hounds had 

 brought their fox into a farmyard, where they 

 threw up, and failed to carry it a yard farther. 

 " Daphne," however, flinging to the front, held 

 the line into a vacant cow-house ; then on to 

 the manger, half filled with hay, where she just 

 whimpered, then clambering over the rack into 

 the loft, or "tallet," forced, as it were, the 

 running, and out bolted the fox, ran the ridge 

 of a thatched outhouse, jumped down into a 

 pig-sty, and there the hounds had him in a 

 moment. " Mr. Woolcombe, of Ashbury, nearly 

 rubbed his nose off with delight." 



The combination of the two packs had taken 

 place but a short time, when, towards the end 

 of the season of 1827, an episode occurred 

 which, but for an immediate explanation on the 

 part of Russell, might have caused a rupture of 

 the newly-formed alliance, and brought it there 

 and then to an untimely end. A bye-day had 

 been arranged near Five Oaks, in the Bratton- 



