322 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



often captured and kept in captivity until required for 

 hunting. There were four paddocks for deer at Mr. 

 MelHsh's hunting lodge at Chingford Green, and it is said 

 that a similar paddock existed at Loughton Bridge where 

 the deer were kept, after being caught on the Forest by 

 means of a net a mile in length. 



We now turn from the chase of the wild red deer, 

 to what Mr. Jorrocks called "the sport incarcerate." In 

 Essex this branch of sport owes everything to the Petre 

 and Neave families. It was in the year 1831 that the 

 late Mr. Sheffield Neave, third son of Sir Thomas 

 Neave, second baronet, began to hunt the carted deer 

 with his hounds. Mr. Neave's age was thirty-two. At 

 first he had the assistance of Mr. Tufnell and Mr. 

 Drummond, but later became the sole master. He 

 hunted the hounds himself; and the old inhabitants are 

 still ever ready to tell of his doings, such as jumping a 

 river lock with a stone coping at Ware ; jumping the river 

 at Shonks Mill, and many others. He was a very hard 

 man to hounds, and is said to have been the first to intro- 

 duce a fashion of flying the banks in the Union or South 

 Essex country ; whereas formerly it had always been 

 customary to do the scrambling business, which, of course, 

 was very slow if sure. In 1837, or thereabouts, Meshach 



