188 HARRIERS. 



and-ink regulations of chamber legislators and haters of 

 field sports. Three generations of the Pelhams turned 

 thousands of acres of waste in heaths and Wolds into 

 rich farm-land; the fourth did his part by giving the 

 same district railways and seaport communication. 

 When we find learned mole-eyed pedants sneering at 

 fox-hunters, we may call the Brocklesby kennels and the 

 Pelham Pillar as witnesses on the side of the common 

 sense of English field sports. It was hunting that 

 settled the Pelhams in a remote country and led them 

 to colonise a waste. 



There is one excellent custom at the hunting- 

 dinners at Brocklesby Park which we may mention, 

 without being guilty of intrusion on private hospitality. 

 At a certain hour the, stud-groom enters and says, " My 

 Lord, the horses are bedded up ; " then the whole party 

 rise, make a procession through the stables, and re- 

 turn to coffee in the drawing-room. This custom was 

 introduced by the first Lord Yarborough some half-cen- 

 tury ago, in order to break through the habit of late 

 sitting over wine that then was too prevalent. 



HARRIERS ON THE BRIGHTON DOWNS. 



Long before hunting sounds are to be heard, except 

 the early morning cub-hunters routing woodlands, and 

 the autumn stag-hunters of Exmoor, harrier packs are 

 hard at work racing down and up the steep hill- 

 side and along the chalky valleys of Brighton Downs, 

 preparing old sportsmen for the more earnest work of 

 November training young ones into the meaning of 

 pace, the habit of riding fast down, and the art of climb- 

 ing quickly, yet not too quickly, up hill giving consti- 



