1878] SHUCKBURaH HILL. 17 



No braver, no better, no quicker to hounds, 



Ever crossed the wide pastures — ^the far stretching " grounds " — 



That reach from the confines of Melton until 



They rise to the summit of Shuckburgh Hill. 



We shall ne"er see him more. In the saddle he died, 

 As he lived, of the hunting field pleasure and pride. 

 On the weird plain of Edgii Hill he rode his last race ; 

 To the field of the graveyard he leapt his last place ! 

 And the white mist of sorrow rose silent and still, 

 All along the fair valley to Shuckburgh Hill. 



Who is this that rides down, all importance and hurry ? 



From his figure and face, I should say 'tis Greorge Currey.* 



" The EmjDress is comin' ! " He passes the word. 



With varying emotion each bosom is stirred. 



But all that the Master says — speaking to " Will " — 



Is " Bid Orvisf draw Calcott — then Shuckburgh Hill.'" 



In the sjiinney, a regular traveller's found. 



But the crush and the crowd dash our hopes to the ground. 



So the words " For the Hill ! " and we'll find, never fear ! 



There's a whimper, a challenge, a chorus, a cheer; 



'Tis a Loml)ard Street l)ank to a pawnbroker's till, 



That a fox is afoot on old Shuckburgh Hill. 



I would travel the ocean, and half the world over 

 To hear Orvis's cheer when he's drawing a cover. 

 The oaks and the ashes are ringing again. 

 And the larch cannot muffle the silver refrain ; 

 In my dreams I oft hear it leverberate still. 

 As it wakened the echoes on Shuckburgh Hill. 



His " Huic ! huic ! luiic ! huic ! " how it rings all round, 

 See how keen the young entry all fly to the sound ! 

 If ClasherJ were here — the old sire of the pack — 

 He'd be proud of his puj^ils, tan, lemon, and black ; 

 Though pensioned in kennel, the deep scars show still 

 How he once faced the brambles on Shuckburgh Hill. 



* The late George Currey, a well-known second-lior.se man of Lord Willoughby's. 



t Charles Orvis, afterwards huntsman to the Holderness, the East Sussex, and the 

 Badsworth. 



X Clasher, entered 1870, by Nestor — Careless ; Careless by Castor — Eapid ; Nestor 

 by Nimrod — Racket; Racket by Stormer — Rakish; Stormer by Old Saffron. His old 

 face was scored like a tattooed New Zealander. 



Vol. II. C 



