HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 105 



what Baggrave is. Put some three hundred 

 horsemen on the lawn in front, and about half 

 a mile of carriages in the road, and the picture 

 is complete. What a rush there was over the 

 park, when the fox broke cover, bringing us past 

 the Hall, and giving hounds the best chance in 

 the world, as the field had to go right or left to 

 get through the grounds — a chance which both 

 fox and hounds availed themselves of, for they 

 crossed the brook, and ran clean out of sight 

 over the high road ; but Pug knew her line, and 

 went to ground just down the hill, and those who 

 got first up found hounds baying round the hole 

 he had gone in at. It was a perfectly wild 

 scamper — horses and men wild with delight; 

 but it let off the superfluous steam, and we 

 settled down quietly as we moved off to John 

 O'Gaunt's cover for next draw, before which we 

 had a slight " divarsion," as our Irish friends 

 would say, in the shape of a hunt in a gigr, which 

 a horse took French leave with, ran away bang 

 over the next field to where the hounds stood, 

 gallantly charged the fence, came clear into the 

 field, down which he shot like a rocket, and left 

 the trap and its occupants stuck in the middle 

 of the hedge. Not much to say of our rather 

 dragging run for John O'Gaunt, which ended in 

 a kill in Sutton village ; nor does the after gallop 

 from Botany Bay require much comment. A 

 damp ride home kept us awake, and we sought 

 our couch early. Our topic of conversation at 

 Baggrave was the decision of the committee 

 who has been appealed to to adjudicate respect- 

 ing Mr. Tailby's country, overwhelmed, no 



