132 England's oldest hunt. 



went the fox, which was given a few minutes' law, then the huntsman 

 sounding his horn, hounds were released, and came out in response 

 with a tremendous burst of music before ever they got to the spot 

 where the fox had started, hardly putting their noses to the ground, 

 they ran with scent breast high, and a tablecloth would have covered 

 the whole of them. A cur coursed the fox for some distance, but though 

 this invariably makes hounds so disgusted with the hunt that they give 

 up, they ran on. The foolish animal instead of making good his escape 

 turned round with some railings between himself and the cur and 

 " hanched " (snapped) at his unorthodox pursuer. In the meanwhile, 

 the hounds came up, and soon made an end of their quarry, though 

 peculiarly enough they did not eat it ; trencher-fed packs rarely will 

 for some reason. I have seen many good runs with bagmen, but they 

 undoubtedly make hoands wild and disinclined to draw for a fox. 



Mr. Lowndes, then, had not a few bagged foxes, and once 

 ran a badger in the same way. He had some fine low- 

 country runs towards Stokesley from Broughton Wood, and 

 from a drain near Dromonby, which invariably held a fox. 

 Both in " the country " and in the moorland he was always 

 with his hounds, nothing seemed to turn him, and it may 

 truthfully be said if ever there was a first flight man it was he. 



It was at the end of his first season that Mr. Lowndes 

 had an unfortunate dispute with the Hurworth Hounds 

 as to the boundaries of his country, which culminated in a 

 trial before the M.F.H. Association in 1898. I have before 

 me as I write the evidence adduced, which I here propose 

 to summarise. 



Mr. H. W. Selby Lowndes (says the book of evidence) was, at a 

 meeting of the Hunt Committee held at Chop Gate, Bilsdale, on 8th 

 April, 1897, appointed Master of the Hunt on the proposition of Mr. 

 Robert Garbutt, the late Master. In December, 1897, a correspondence 

 between the two hunts commenced as to the boundary of the hunts. 



Mr. Scurfield then sent the Master of the Bilsdale letters 

 from Mr. W. Brown, the owner of Arncliffe, and Mr. Haynes, 

 the owner of Thimbleby, both stating that the Hurworth 

 Hounds had exclusive rights to hunt their coverts. The 

 evidence continues with a letter to the Masters of Fox-hounds' 

 Association, signed by George Bell, which runs : — 



On the 18th of April, 1898, Mr. H. W. Selby Lowndes gave notice 

 in writing to Mr. Scurfield, that the Committee of the Bilsdale Hunt 

 claimed the whole of the banks on the East side of the high road leading 



