Mr. Arkwright and the Oakley. 247 



Chase to Brayfield Furze, and go on to Houghton 

 Lordship, where you might imagine you were in 

 Leicestershire ; then was the time to see Mr. 

 Arkwright shine ; he was quick, decisive, strong 

 on his horse, and a rare stayer. One thing he 

 used to do which was not to be commended ; if 

 he caught sight of his hunted fox he would ride at 

 him. In the woods one would do much to bother 

 a fox, and turn him if possible, from his foil ; but 

 to ride a fox down is a bad thing for hounds. 



Huntsmen and their whippers-in will sometimes 

 ride a fox and get him down in a field, and then 

 have to fetch the hounds to kill him I Indeed^ 

 an instance of this is on record ; but I am happy 

 to say that in fifty years I never saw it don^ in 

 the Grafton Hunt. " From scent to view " may 

 well be considered to be the greatest reward a 

 pack of hounds can have. 



I was out in the Chase on the last day of cub- 

 hunting, when we found an old fox ; and he led us 

 a good round and tried all he knew t ) shake off 

 his pursuers, but they caught him n a little over 

 an hour. We then went and got another fox 

 afoot and began well with him. After going over 

 some foiled ground the pack pressed and kept on 

 pressing. Mr. Arkwright said, '* He is a tough 

 one, for a cub ! " I replied, " He was a cub once» 



