1894 THE ETON BOY AND PAP.A. ^ 283 



all our well-uuiuntiMl, hard-riding" staif, but " ueuio mort " (uo I will nut g'ive 

 the liackneyod old quotation), I will only say we ran, what I Ix'lieve to lie the 

 hiinted fox, AA'itli the majority of the pack up to Tysoe. w^here Jack and Jim 

 got to us ; then we were like a ship without a nulder, like a bottle without a 

 cork, like a flock without a shepherd, a salmon fly without its barb. As we 

 were puzzling a line out through the Tysoe, hoping to catch a view every 

 moment, I heard distinctly the master s horn at Compton Wyniates. In an 

 incredibly short space of time, from our point of view, he had with about 

 seven couples of hounds run his fox to Idlicote. where Mr. Townsend w^as 

 shooting (alas I that he was nut hunting), then to the Honington Si)inney and 

 left lianded across the Yale nearly to the comer of Brailes Hill. From thence 

 he swimg left-handed, and, leaving Spencer's Gorse on the left, dipped into 

 the Yale, and, curving round Compton Wyiiiates and up the hills by the 

 Dingle, marked him to ground in the main earths at Epwell. He tells me 

 that, with the rest of the hounds and Jack, he must liave caught him before 

 this ; and all I can say is that most of us would have given up two or three 

 days" hunting if wo could have helped him to them. If anyone takes the 

 trouble to mark out the line upon the map he will see it was a wonderfully 

 good run, and the whole of it in the very l)est part of the Yale. I am sorry 

 to say that I did not take any times. I should say it was five-and -twenty 

 minutes to where they divided, ten more on to Tysoe, and ten more before 

 Jack gave it up. Lord Willoughby's time was about five or ten minutes 

 longer ; about thirty or thirty-five muuites from Oxhill. When the hounds 

 got together, after a distant duet of horns, Spencer's Gorse was drawn, but 

 the fox went to groimd almost directly. OxJiill was uatiirally blank, so they 

 went back to the Kineton Coverts, and, finding again, ran round h\ the same 

 line over Herd HiU. Here they tiu-ned shorter, and. leaving Oxhill Yillage on 

 the right, went up Edge Hill between the two Tysoes — a first-rate day's 

 sport, only spoiled by the dividing of the hounds as aforesaid. 



From Sir C. Morclaimt's diary : 



During Noveml)er there was veiy heavy i*ain, and the country fur the first 

 time during the last six years became well wet thruugh, and in the condition in 

 which it should be for the best hunting. The floods were higher than I have 

 ever yet seen them. The river Thames rose to the greatest height which it 

 w^as ever known to reach, and the Eton boys went home, the school having 

 been broken up. I happened at the time to be at a house in Northampton- 

 shire to which an Eton boy returned. He had not written home to say that 

 he was coming, and he Avalked into his father's study without being expected. 

 His astonished parent said, '• What can have brought you back from Eton ? " 

 The boy replied, " Papa, I have been sent away." After a time his father 

 said, " Well, you will have to go and tell your mother what has happened ; " 

 so he went up to the sitting-i-oom, and after an interi-iew, which can be better 

 imagined than descril)ed. luncheon time arrived, and then the boy greatly 

 relieved their minds by relating the real .story. 



From the Leamin(jton Spa Courier .- 



Monday, December 3rd, tlu^ tryst was at Gaydon Inn. on a nice clear 

 morning, and there was a good company present. The hounds w^ere first 

 taken to Bawcutt's Covert, where a bivace of the necessary article were on 

 foot. One steered away first of all pointing fur Gaydon Hill Coppice, then 

 swerved towards Itchington Holt, but, after being headed, turned short back 



