CAPT. BURNS-HARTOPP'S FINAL SEASONS 183 



Quorn, and I remember thinking how well he 

 hunted a fox with a bad scent on Kirby Gate day. 



We had found in Gartree Hill, and eventually 

 killed near Freeby Wood. This was the first time 

 I had seen him, being unable to get out cub-hunting. 



Bishopp, in his younger days, had earned the 

 reputation of being one of the hardest and quickest 

 men who had ever crossed the Grafton country, 

 but he was getting on in years when he came to the 

 Quorn. Hunting a fashionable pack of hounds 

 is a hard and strenuous life, for which a man must 

 be in vigorous health. Bishopp hunted a fox on 

 a bad scenting day with extraordinary skill and 

 perseverance ; but he had lost some of youth's 

 dash, which put him at a disadvantage in a fast 

 gallop amidst the Quorn crush. 



November proved to be a good scenting month, 

 and there were several good runs. On the 15th, 

 the Cottesmore found a fox in Berry Gorse and 

 killed him close to Thorpe Trussells. Then in the 

 evening of the same day they raced another fox 

 to his death from Berry Gorse ; but scent must 

 have been exceptionally good that day, for I heard 

 that both the Quorn and the Bel voir ran fast. 



A certain amount of frost and snow stopped 

 hunting a few days before Christmas, but sport 

 was good on the whole, though without any run 

 of a sensational nature. 



All three packs did well in January until the 

 frost came again. A seven-mile point with the 

 Quorn from Brooksby Spinney by way of Ashby 

 Pastures and across the river near Eye-Kettleby 

 to a kill on the Fosse near Ella's Gorse, was about 

 the best. The Cottesmore run from Stapleford 



