HUNTING ON THE FELLS 73 



who, when I knew him, used to ride a pony he 

 called ' Dunny,' from its Hght colour, and on this 

 animal, from his intimate knowledge of the 

 country, he used to get along the roads, and see a 

 great deal of what his hounds did. Peel's grey 

 coat is no more a myth than himself, for I well 

 remember the long, rough, grey garment, which 

 almost came down to his knees. No doubt drink 

 played a prominent part — if it were not, indeed, 

 the ' predominant partner ' in these northern 

 hunts. I have heard John Peel say, when they 

 had killed a fox : ' Now ! this is the first fox we've 

 killed this season, and it munna be a dry 'un ! ' — 

 words of that kind being a prelude to an adjourn- 

 ment to the nearest public-house, where the party 

 would remain for an indefinite time, reaching, I 

 have heard it said, even to two days." 



In the book " Sir WiKrid Lawson (A Memoir)," 

 by the Right Hon. George W. E. RusseU, it says : 



" The famous John Peel, who is 'kenn'd' over 

 the English-speaking world, was a Master of Fox- 

 hounds on a very primitive and limited scale, and 

 hunted his own hounds in Cumberland for upwards 

 of forty-six years. He died in 1854. By this 

 time Wilfrid Lawson was twenty-five years old, 

 and desperately fond of hunting. So, on the death 

 of John Peel, with whom he had hunted ever since 

 he could sit in a saddle, he bought Peel's hounds, 

 amalgamated them with a small pack which he 



