Nil Desperaiidum . 225 



which I shall not be slow to avail myself of. Then 

 away we trotted along the slippery roads at a slap- 

 ping pace, passing through Ightham and Wrotham, 

 arriving atLeybourne Grange, formerly the residence 

 of the late Sir Joseph Hawley, as George Bollen and 

 his whips, with twenty-three couples and a-half of 

 hounds, emerged from a plantation near the entrance 

 to the Grange. Here was assembled the " field," 

 which included the Hon. Ralph Nevill, the Master of 

 the West Kent, and his daughters, Lady Mostyn, 

 Lady Caroline Nevill, Miss Bligh (an elegant and 

 graceful performer with hounds), Mr. Mostyn, and 

 several gentlemen, all on foot, as were also George 

 Bollen and his men. 



Notwithstanding the long stoppage of work, these 

 hounds looked as fit to go as possible ; this, no 

 doubt, is due to the fact of their huntsmen never 

 losing an opportunity of taking them out, even 

 though the ground was as hard as a rock — even the 

 day previous, they ran a fox to ground, after pur- 

 suing him for a considerable time amongst the frost 

 and snow. Of course there is a risk of laming 

 some of the pack by following this unusual practice 

 of hunting during such a severe time ; but the 

 result seems entirely to justify the proceeding, as 

 shown by the condition of the hounds on this 

 occasion. 



After drawing two or three plantations with- 

 out finding, the hounds were taken in the direction 

 of the paddock, but, ere they had gone very far, 

 a halloo back was heard, and, returning to the park, 

 they were laid upon a line of an erratic fox, and, 

 picking up the scent after a few minutes, went 



