COLONEL COOK IN ESSEX. 55 



established in iSoo, about the time Colonel Cook took the 

 Thurlow country. There he stayed three years and then, 

 on resigning in favour of INIr. Povvlett-Powlett, went into 

 Essex. 



In the year iSoS he established himself with his 

 hounds in quarters which were small, and not particularly 

 well placed for his purpose, at Bell House (a name after- 

 wards changed to Pilgrim's House), at Pilgrim's Hatch, 

 near Brentwood. In Essex he stayed for five seasons, 

 during which time he hunted his hounds himself and 

 showed first-rate sport. His hounds were described as 

 being as fine a pack as money and close attention to all 

 the minutice of the kennel, added to his own instinctive 

 as well as acquired knowledge of the animal, could pro- 

 cure. He had a good stud of horses, plenty of foxes (of 

 the old-fashioned sort, too), and what was in those days 

 considered a liberal subscription. 



His whip was Jack Cole, who came from the Old 

 Surrey, and was reputed to be the best whipper-in ot his 

 day. Like the foxes, he was of the old-fashioned sort — 

 a hard rider, and a hard drinker, the colour of a nigger 

 or a collier, and commonly known as " Black Jack." 



Cook hunted the Essex County three or four days 

 a week. In his celebrated work on F"oxhunting he speaks 



