338 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



Still continued. Mr. Vigne's family, which was of Swiss 

 extraction, had immigrated to England at the time of the 

 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in or near 

 London. His father, Mr. Thomas Vigne, was, when a 

 young man, a well-known cricketer, and a member of the 

 M.C.C. Though not a hunting man, Mr. Thomas Vigne 

 was a good judge of a horse and an accomplished rider. 



It was intended that Mr. Henry Vigne should follow a 

 professional career ; but, meeting with a serious accident 

 early in life, through being thrown from his horse, the 

 choice of a profession was deferred sine die, and eventually 

 abandoned. 



From the first Mr. Vigne devoted himself to his 

 hounds. They soon developed into a very useful pack 

 which would hold to the line of their hare though a herd of 

 deer crossed in front of them — no uncommon occurrence in 

 the Forest. Fast hounds are required for Epping Forest, 

 where a hare has every facility for making work, so, to 

 obtain the requisite speed, Mr. Vigne procured dwarf fox- 

 hounds from the best kennels. His hunting days were 

 Tuesdays and Saturdays, with sometimes a bye-day, when 

 the master mostly went out on foot. Owing to his popu- 

 larity and his efforts on all occasions to avoid doing mischief 

 to crops, he was not restricted to the Forest, and he 



