366 WARWICKSHIRE HUNT. 



I shall find it more difficult to know when to stop, than how 

 to begin. I shall only repeat, that he left behind him a 

 title to the gratitude of the sporting world, and an example 

 most worthy of imitation by all Masters of hounds. In 

 short, we may exclaim with the poet, — 



' Semjier honos, nomenqiie tuum, laudesque manebunt.' 



The enclosures of Warwickshire are, for the most part, 

 of a fair size ; particularly in the grazing districts, which I 

 should estimate at one-third of the whole extent of country. 

 Taking it as a whole, I consider the soil very favorable to 

 scent, as the staple is generally good. A great portion of 

 the ploughed lands, however, are very tender after hard 

 frosts, succeeded by rains ; and Warwickshire may be 

 termed a deep country ro ride over, and one which requires 

 strong and well-bred horses. A great many such are 

 annually bred in the county, and it always has been the 

 pride of Warwickshire yeomen to have a good huaiter or 

 two in their stables, a species of stock that has, on the whole, 

 paid them well for rearing. 



The fences of Warwickshire are, of course, of various 

 descriptions ; but, with the exception of the Meriden Wood- 

 lands, now partly dissevered from the country, they are 

 seldom placed on banks. Quickset hedges, with a ditch 

 only on one side, are the general obstacles to be encoimtered ; 

 and in the grazing districts, from the richness of the soil, 

 they equal, in thickness and strength, the often described 

 ' buU-finchcs ' of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. — 

 What are called bullock-fences are also not uncommon in 

 Warwickshire ; that is to say, a good stiff rail accompany- 

 ing a hedge and ditch. Timber fences perpetually occur, 

 either in the shape of stiles, or rails affixed in weak parts of 

 the quickset fences, to which a ditch is always added, as a 

 further security against trespass. Brooks also abound, as 

 they do in all rich vales, but the greater part of them come 



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