322 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAI1UE. 



among some farm buildings adjacent ; he may have found a 

 raLbit-hole or a drain ; or may have crept back into Norton 

 Park — may have adopted a dozen expedients. At any rate 

 they never hit him again — and this great unbroken run of an 

 hour and forty-five minutes ended thus. Where so many 

 good sportsmen and sportswomen rode up to hounds during the 

 bulk of the chase, and were up at the finish, it would be a task 

 far beyond me to venture upon names. So my sketch must 

 stand as it is in its bare outline — for those who care to follow 

 the details of a superb hunting run over the most perfect 

 country. Surely hounds never worked more tenaciously and 

 quickly than these little Pytchley ladies. Goodall, whose 

 white-patched chestnut was probably less distressed at the 

 end than any horse there, had scarcely occasion to touch them 

 (once on an early plough, and once below Catesby). 



I can't feel that I have adequately described this run. Of 

 course I have taken for granted that high-class country, the 

 charm of grass, the delight of fast hunting, are pre-understood 

 everywhere — but especially as adaptable to such a district as 

 that named. This was purely a fast-hunting run, covering an 

 immense area of fine country — a hound-run not a jumping, 

 competitive, gallop, but a foxhunt of the very best type (given 

 the drawback of a tiring conclusion). For my humble part, I 

 am prone to consider that the life of a run departs with the 

 strength of a horse. Riding then becomes cruelty ; and the 

 suffering of the steed is misery to the man. To "ride a horse 

 out " is no exhilarating exercise. It is merely a pandering to 

 one's own vanity at the expense of the noble beast whose vigour 

 has been a mutual glory. These are foolish sentiments, no 

 doubt. They can't be held by a huntsman or his whips, and 

 they are not often confessed by his followers. But men taking 

 the chase only for pleasure, cannot but entertain them in their 

 hearts, and would do no worse were they to give them freer 

 vent. One of the main objections to the artificial and over- 

 strained amusement of riding to a carted deer is found in the 

 prolonged strain that is put upon every hunter, spurred on to 



