1885] FINE RUN FEOM THE HOLT. 1:33 



Warwiekshirt' made on Friday, January 16tli. a point of ten good OrdiiaiiCL' 

 miles. Tlie o-roimd rode superlily. and wliat was not grass was sc^niteli — a 

 difference not distinguished even by tiie agricultural connoisseur when hounds 

 are heating liorses. Soil famous to all time Avas galloped over to-day. Nearly 

 two and a lialf centuries since on this spot Cavalier and Roundliead fought it 

 out for king and country. Kineton Holt is situated on the plain, at the foot 

 of the Edge Hills, and the fiercest of the struggle went on around it. How 

 did the mounted portion manage to charge across the fields is a qiiestion 

 which occurs to us most forcil)ly. Possil)ly the hedges were not tliere, but 

 this same brook must have flowed as coldly and muddy as it does now. Hoav 

 did our ancestors negotiate it ? We are weighted witli notliing more serious 

 tlian wliip and s])urs, with horses in the pink of conditi(jn. and with every 

 incentive to urge us to jump. No lusty trooper awaits us on the other side 

 with keen broadsword and pistol, ready to cut and thrust, or shoot, as it best 

 suits him. Yet the pitiful ditch in the nineteenth century drove nearly all 

 tlui cavalry to seek a ford, and with no enemy except their own hearts to 

 oppose tlie passage. We must have deteriorated. 



But to go back to the find and the day. The meet was at the Kennels, 

 and the morning was a hunting one save the dreadful east wind, Avhicli l)leAV 

 in squally gusts, and left its mark in royal purple on many a fair face and 

 hardeiuMl feature. The fox, wlien first on foot, amused itself by perambu- 

 lating l)ackAvards and forwards l)etween the Holt and the plantation — a 

 matter of tAvo fields. Nevertheless the hounds could not hunt him, and Ave 

 then — for once — gave the infantry, not the usual imprecations, but their due. 

 I cau't say Avhether the Avind dropped, but I fancy it did, and all of a sudden 

 Ave discovered ourselves through the plantation, and hounds carrying a good 

 head. A holloa .sent them flying down the brook toAA^ards RadAA^ay. Not for 

 long though. In another minute they Avere across to the right, and double 

 tongueing it up the wheat stuljble toAvards Pillerton Gorse. There was a 

 cluster at an easy place, and the l)ody of tlie horsemen hustled each other 

 right strenuously. The pack Avere streaming aAvay, and Mr. Lowe a;nd the 

 Hon. and Rev. W. Verney, Avho had jumped the stream higher up, Avere Avell 

 up to them on the right. We, lioAvever, were to be shown the AAay in Avhich 

 they ride in Limerick. Captain Allfrey was the demonstrator, and he Avas 

 not satisfied unless he led by at least half a field. He never liesitated a 

 miuiite all day, and certainly not at this point. He drew aAvay from the ruck, 

 and those above mentioned, Avho Avere AA'asting time opening gates. The 

 gallant grey* AA^as striding OA^er tlie fences. Tlien the rougli straggling hedge 

 by the side of the little spinney afforded liini further advantage, for it forced 

 those in the rear into single file at the Aveakest spot, and they Avere delayed 

 by a runaAvay chesnut, which, bearing doAvn upon it at the i-ate of forty miles 

 an hour, took it at the obliquest of angles, and that safely. On the plough 

 by Pillerton Gorse there Avas a check. We had run this in eight minutes. 

 Six minutes Avere lost, and Ave then Avent on to Oxliill Gorse, in another eight 

 minutes. They took up the line on the other side of the turnpike, and set to 

 work to drive. We could keep with them through the o])en gate, but the 

 leaders all recoiled from tli(> stake and bound in the valley. But they had it 

 at the second time, attacking it in half a dozen places — on the rigid, Messrs. 



* This was not Captain AUfrey's well-known horse " Smith," but another grey he 

 bought for £13 !— W. R. V. 



