64 THE WARWICKSHIRE HUNT. [I8ir 



mornmg, and the pack drove the fox at once out of the 

 covert, and ran, leaving Long Itchington to the right, and 

 by Offchnrcli nearly to Eadford ; and thence, leaving 

 Leamington to the left, through the large woodlands into> 

 Stoneleigh Park, and killed their fox in the river Avon. 

 Lord Middleton, Mr. Barnard, and Harry Jackson, the 

 huntsman, were up at the end of the run; Sir Charles 

 Mordaunt left in the middle of it. Harry Jackson 

 rode his favourite horse, Bluebeard, for the last time, and 

 he died at the Warwick Arms, and Lord Middleton 

 gave orders that an armchair should be covered with the 

 horse's skin, and Harry Jackson had it for many years, 

 in his possession. This was a great day's sport, both 

 for riders and hounds, when two such foxes were both 

 killed. 



Sir Charles Mordaunt did not take to hunting until he 

 had reached the age of thirty-five, but he, notwithstanding,, 

 rode hard, and was a fine horseman. He was 6ft. in 

 height, but only weighed lOst. 71b. His best hunter was 

 a grey horse, 15.. 2 in height, and standing over a good deal 

 of ground, a picture of which is at Walton Hall. 



Another very fine run is recorded by " Venator " as^ 

 having taken place from Farnborough on a frosty morning 

 in February, 1S17, when hounds were not put into covert 

 until one o'clock. They found at once, and ran very fast 

 over the Yale below Edge Hill to Compton Wyniates,* 

 and from there over Brailes Hill to A¥eston House, then 

 through Whichford Wood, and nearly straight to Barton- 

 on-the-Heath, and they killed their fox in a large grass- 

 field nearMoreton-in-the-Marsh. It was nearly dark when 

 the fox was killed. There was a great deal of snow on the 

 ground, and very few sportsmen followed to the end of the- 

 run, which lasted two hours and fifty minutes, some part 

 of which was slow hunting. The distance as the crow 

 flies is nearly twenty miles, and it is appro])riately recorded 



* The word Wyniates is derived from Vineyards, of which there are many relics in 

 this neighbourhood, videlicet at Shennington and Horley. The wine made from the- 

 gT&pea was a sort of Canary. " Jorrocks " would not have liked it. 



