186 CLEVELAND AND ESKDALE. 



The Eskdale hunt can also lay claim to having 

 been established early in the century, for 

 when Mr. John Andrew hunted the Cleveland, 

 the late Mr. Peters had hounds at Handale 

 Abbey, and afterwards at Larpool Hall, and 

 hunted what is now the Eskdale country. The 

 Eskdale have undergone considerable vicissitudes, 

 and once, owing to a paucity of foxes, were con- 

 verted for the nonce into harriers. It is a fine 

 wild country they hunt ; it holds a capital scent, 

 and although not what a Leicestershire man would 

 admire, it is a capital country for sport were it 

 not for one drawback ; this is the too frequent 

 recurrence of blank days. Sad to say, foxes are 

 not taken care of in the Eskdale country as they 

 should be, and wild and gallant as the Eskdale 

 foxes are, there are too few of them. The sub- 

 scriptions too, are not what they ought to be, and 

 David Smallwood is plucky indeed to hunt the 

 country under such manifest disadvantages as he 

 has to contend with That he is a first-rate 

 sportsman goes without saying, for only a good 

 sportsman would persevere under the circum- 

 stances. 



The Eskdale hunt unfortunately has not a 

 continuous history, aud after Mr. Peters' time 

 the country was in abeyance, and was only hunted 

 by some of the rough and ready scratch packs 

 from the neighbouring dales. This has been the 

 .source of considerable trouble to the Eskdale hunt, 



