A REMARKABLE WEEK. 459 



case you had time to join in after Plumpton Wood, and to put 

 in appearance at the check beyond Grumbler's Holt, there to 

 join a steaming and dismounted group. I fear that Mr. 

 Stevens's smart little grey jumped his last fence about this 

 period — for they tell of a broken back at a wide yonder ditch. 

 To the check was fifty minutes by the watch, and over six 

 miles by the ruler on the map (extreme points). For five 

 minutes more they ran hard. But at Western Spinney a brace 

 of foxes were just before them ; horses were nearly at a stand- 

 still, and night was drawing in apace. So Beers decided to 

 give in to his fox, though holloas were going loudly in the 

 village of Weedon Lois close by. A splendid run, with never a 

 check — altogether over deep wet grass — and completing, as an 

 unexpected windfall, a fine day's sport. Some thirty people 

 saw the run — among them Lord Alfred Fitzroy, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Douglas-Pennant, Mrs. Byass, Lord Capell, Baron M. de Tuyll, 

 Major Riddell, Messrs. Campbell, Fuller, Thursby, Jarvis, 

 Adamthwaite, Church, Vaughan, Rhodes, St. Ives, Jenner, 

 Shepperd, Weatherby, Geddes. By the way, may I — as one no 

 longer subject to the majesty of military law — venture to 

 query, Are not the powers-that-be keeping the soldiers 

 unusually tight ? Of the Standing Orders of 1889 I know 

 nothing. But I do remember to have heard what the Iron 

 Duke said, and what the Royal Duke of the present day holds, 

 about fox-hunting and its advantages. I know full well also 

 that the Weedon training seldom falls to man's lot twice in a 

 lifetime. 



Now for " the timely dew of sleep." But I can't help wishing 

 we had seen that fox brushed. I fear we changed by Plumpton 

 Wood. 



On Tuesday, Dec. 17, the North Warwickshire were at 

 Clifton, by Rugby ; and sport continued. The thermometer 

 stood at about 50°, and scent was warm as ever. An immense 

 field appeared to include representatives from nearly every 

 Hunt in the kingdom. Suffice it to mention as pleasant 

 instances Lord Ribblesdale and Count Zborowski, the latter 



