16 England's oldest hunt. 



Our hounds being young, and the fox almost done, 

 He straightway jumped into the river ; 

 Old Dido he jumped in, and after him did swim, 

 Saying, now we will triumph for ever. 

 There was, etc. 



The hound names given in the rhyme are interesting, too, 

 and though none of them are now to be found in the Bilsdale 

 Hunt lists, it is only a generation ago since most of them 

 were in use here. It is difficult, with little else but legends 

 and stories handed down orally for many years, to arrive 

 at any very accurate decision as to the modus operandi of 

 hunting at this period. They would not, I should imagine, 

 have any regular or stated days of meeting, certainly they 

 would not advertise them, and the possibility is that the next 

 day's sport would be fixed at the end of each day's hunting. 

 From what I gathered from the late " Bobbie " Dawson, 

 who was fairly clear on the doings of this period, and, indeed, 

 knew and could talk of but little else but matters hunting, 

 the Duke had two packs, one for the fox, and the other to 

 hunt the stag. He had as huntsman of the former pack one 

 Robert Forster. Now to show that "Bobbie," of whom I 

 shall have much to say later (he having for considerably 

 over half-a-century been connected with the Bilsdale), was in 

 a position to gather much information regarding the period 

 under inquest, and in a way qualified to speak, it may be men- 

 tioned his mother, Sarah Dawson, was the grand-daughter of 

 Mark Forster, who in turn was the son of Robert. This latter 

 scion of his clan was a resident of Bilsdale, and lived at 

 ThorDhill, about two miles from Chop Gate, or, as it is always 

 called locally, Chop Yat, near to the edge of the moor, and 

 on the East side of the dale. Whether or not he only 

 hunted hounds when they were in the dale I cannot say, but 

 as Helmsley is only twelve miles away, it is quite within the 

 bounds of possibility that he attended the whole of the 

 fixtures of the foxhounds. 



An old ballad, entitled " The Fox Chase," or " Hunts- 

 man's Harmony," to be found in the Roxburgh Ballads, 

 tells of a hunt with the Duke of Buckingham's Hounds. 



