332 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



afforded a fast run of two and a quarter hours. Seven 

 days later, a run of over twenty miles from Fyfield was 

 ended with hospitable entertainment at Sir Charles 

 Smith's (Suttons). Many other good days followed, in- 

 cluding a remarkable run on March 23rd, 1886, from High 

 Easter to Epping — twenty miles at least, as hounds ran — 

 in two hours. The best run of the present master's second 

 season occurred on March 15th, 1887, when a deer, 

 enlarged at Marks Hall, and taken eleven miles away at 

 Shenfield Place, afforded a run of double that distance, in 

 four and a half hours, which was successfully ended in 

 spite of two inches of snow on the ground. 



In the next season (1887-8) the great day was 

 February 7th, 1888. The following account of the day's 

 sport appeared in the County Gentleman : — 



"■Mr. Sheffield N eaves Staghounds. — These hounds 

 met on Tuesday, the 7th, at Marks Hall, in the Rodings, 

 perhaps the best part of this celebrated country, and a very 

 favourite meet. A field of some fifty horsemen included, 

 besides our regular supporters, several strangers, and 

 among the latter we noticed the Secretary of the Essex 

 Foxhounds. As the hounds dashed out into the line of 

 the deer, we heard the master say : ' Now for twenty-five 

 miles,' and 'The Pigeon ' soon showed that his confidence 



