152 England's oldest hunt. 



so recently as October of 1906, after his pack had killed 

 a " bag man," that : — 



My hounds can kill both hare and fox, 

 Which ever gets a-foot. 



They had more foxes in the country in these early times 

 than is the case now-a-days, and one of the best days which 

 the veteran at Castleton can remember followed upon a 

 fixture at Fairy Cross Plain, a public-house in Fryup at 

 that time. Old Joe Duck was over seventy then, but as 

 tough as leather. He jogged up to time, and after " having 

 a bait " in the moorland inn, they " pulled out," as removing 

 the horses from the stable is called, and ere the day was ended 

 had had three splendid gallops and killed three foxes. One 

 of these Mr. Alexander still has in his possession. It is 

 worthy of note that a peculiarity of trencher-fed packs 

 is they never break up their foxes. In this day, I am 

 told, all the best runs were from Fryup and Westerdale, 

 but as Mr. Alexander did not hunt with the pack on the 

 other side of the country, it is possible his memory only recalls 

 those in the part of the country mentioned. One run he 

 remembers in old Joe's time was from the Eskletts, in 

 Westerdale, to Rosedale Head, down into Farndale, past 

 Potter's at the Hall, to Hutton-le-Hole, where the run ended. 

 I was told of many more runs, fast and long, but as they 

 embrace such a plethora of place names of which the reader 

 may be ignorant, I have refrained from quoting them. I am 

 told a number of bagged foxes were run at this period — an age 

 when most packs seemed to encourage the practice of foxes 

 being caught and brought to a fixture, where a collection 

 was made for those who had trapped or dug for them, the end 

 of the sack opened, the quarry given a few minutes' or 

 seconds' law, and then hounds released from the stable or 

 outhouse where they had been confined. 



In the early part of last century, drinking and fox-hunting 

 seemed to go hand-in-hand together, both before and after 

 the chase. Now matters have been somewhat altered, and 

 so far as I can make out a good deal of " liquoring " is done 

 in the field itself, the size of some canteens being so con- 



