HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. S5 



in taking the right Hne is more like the result 

 of unerring instinct (I know Mr. Cotton will 

 object to the word) than the slow process of 

 fallible reason. Then there is Mr. Tom 

 Kemble, of Runwell, a capital preserver who in 

 the course of a long career has hardly ever 

 jumped a fence, but who has probably viewed 

 more foxes than any man living. Nobody ever 

 went faster along roads or slower over a country 

 than he, and no one ever held hunting for its 

 own sake and apart from the wild excitement of 

 riding, in higher esteem. If landholders in 

 other parts of Essex only possessed something 

 of the same .spirit there would not be many 

 coverts drawn blank. In this respect, however, 

 the Essex Union are exceptionally fortunate. 

 Unfriendly proprietors or lessees of coverts with 

 a fondness for pheasants rather than foxes will, 

 of course, always be found in any country, and 

 especially near London ; but they cannot long 

 resist the opinion of their neighbours when a 

 feeling in favour of fox preservation is as strong 

 as it is here. The example of Lord Petre has 

 perhaps a great deal to do with this, and it would 

 be a day of ill omen for hunting in South Essex 

 were the Lord of Thorndon Park to discontinue 

 the sport. Happily, however, a love of hunting 

 is a tradition in the family. The late Lord 

 Petre was master of these hounds before Mr. 

 Scratton's day, and the present holder of the 

 title, though he does not hunt now, is the 

 staunchest supporter in the country. Lord of 

 twenty thousand acres, he insists on all the 

 tenants within his domain preserving foxes, 



