24 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



young ones and a few second season hunters, I 

 imagine, would have continued the chase to the 

 bitter end. 



These little accidents will happen to the best- 

 trained packs, but huntsmen will always make merry 

 over the discomfiture of one of their profession, 

 and the more celebrated the hunt, the more likely 

 is the event to become public. 



The historic gallops of the past have had their 

 share of notice, and I am not going to bore you with 

 what has already been written. The most inter- 

 esting and instructive feature of a great run is an 

 exact account of hounds' work, the individual 

 exertions, and the pedigrees of those that were 

 leading at the finish. This unfortunately was not 

 considered worth noting by the hunting scribes of 

 that time, and we get instead long stories of the 

 fences that were jumped, but we know now these 

 are not reliable, as the writer was generally not in a 

 position to speak from personal observation. 



The run which my father always put down as 

 the best he remembered was from Thorpe Trussells 

 to Vowes Gorse. I am very much afraid my parent 

 thought more of the riding than he did of the 

 hounds. I have no notes by me, and must trust to 

 my memory to recall the story as told me some years 

 ago now. It would be at the time Mr. Greene had 

 the hounds, because I can remember my father 

 saying, " Old Greene was behind, cursing and swear- 

 ing at me for over-riding his hounds, whilst in reality 

 it was all we could do to keep near them." It 

 was one of the biggest foxes ever seen, and the 

 second fence from the covert, a good four feet, he 

 cleared in his stride. The first point was to Dalby 



