354 iklngs of tbe 1F5untina*3fielb 



good rate, with the hounds well at him in a body and 

 carrying a good head. Flying the park, they crossed 

 the Chester Road, and got somewhat clear of the crowd 

 of horsemen that pressed upon them. The pace served 

 the hounds, and so, too, did a "regular yawner" that 

 made the leading men swerve from the line to look for 

 a weak place ; it was a sunk fence, broad and deep, 

 with stiff rails on the top ; the height and the width 

 made it nearly impossible for a horse to clear it in his 

 stride. While they were hesitating at the obstacle, the 

 voice of Jack Mytton was heard saying, — " Out of the 

 way, you fellows, here goes for the honour of Shropshire." 

 Down came his " Hit or Miss " mare with Mytton under 

 her ; bleeding, hatless and torn, he remounted his mare 

 and rode bareheaded through the rest of the run. The 

 hounds, with a greatly diminished following, were stopped 

 at the end of an hour, as they were running a vixen 

 heavy in cub. Will Head, having never left the hounds, 

 and as it were first up, was awarded the brush. Will 

 Staples of the Shropshire, however, won two sovereigns 

 from Head on the wager of whose hounds should first 

 taste blood.' 



Sir Richard Puleston was a fine sportsman and 

 showed good sport in his day, but the golden age of 

 the Wynnstay country was yet to come. In the year 

 1841 Mr Hurleston Leche, son of the famous old Squire 

 of Garden, who had been a contemporary of George 

 Forester and Smith Barry, died, and the foxhounds with 

 which he had been hunting the country for several years 

 were sold to Mr Price of Brynprys for 500 guineas on 

 behalf of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, who came of age 

 in that year. There had been hounds at Wynnstay, as 

 I have said, up to 1788. Then, after an interregnum 



