152 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



them to Leicestershire, hunted them himself on by- 

 days. All those who hunted with him were loud 

 in their praise of the sport shown, but I felt it my 

 duty as Field correspondent to stick to the regular 

 days ; and though hounds were frequently at my 

 door on Wednesdays, I nearly always went with 

 the Belvoir. I did, however, have a day or two 

 with Lord Lonsdale, and saw some very good sport ; 

 but in my opinion the hounds were too big for an 

 enclosed country where the hedges were thick. It 

 prevented the pack from carrying a good head and 

 getting quickly together. 



My first day with the private pack when there 

 was any scent was on 7th March, and with a com- 

 paratively small field we had a capital run over 

 the cream of the Quorn country. The morning 

 had afforded a short and pleasant gallop, but the 

 afternoon run from Thorpe Trussells was very good 

 indeed, and hounds were only prevented from killing 

 their fox through want of light. 



Season 1896-1897 



My first week's letter in this season is missing, 

 and I have no record of the Quorn opening day ; 

 but, unless I am mistaken, it was the Kirby Gate 

 that hounds ran from Adam's Gorse to Neville 

 Holt. The following week's issue tells of the fox 

 having been found dead on Wednesday morning 

 after the run on Monday, and it seemed such a 

 tragic ending for a gallant fox that I tried to trace 

 his homeward journey. Here is the story as it 

 appeared in the Field, and although I wrote it, 

 that does not ensure the details being true. 



