90 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



crossing the Vale of Aylesbury, mentioning especially the 

 brooks which intersected the course afterwards selected. 

 This was questioned by some of the noble sportsmen 

 present, and the conversation ended by a promise from 

 Mr. Peyton that he would undertake to give ihcm a fair 

 four-mile course over a hunting country which he himself 

 had often ridden, and which he stated that men hunting 

 in that district were compelled to face if they rode fairly 

 to hounds like sportsmen. It should be noted that at 

 that time Mr. Peyton was allowed to be one of the best 

 cross-country riders in England. His proposal was 

 accepted, and he determined to carry it out. He con- 

 sulted his friend, Captain Lamb, on the subject, and the 

 latter undertook to find a silver cup of fifty guineas as a 

 prize, and the following conditions were drawn up and 

 agreed to — Each horse to carry I2st. ^ibs., twenty 

 guineas entrance P.P., the second horse to save his 

 stake; and the race was fixed to come off within one 

 month. When the entries were closed, it was found that 

 there were twenty-one horses entered. 



On the night before the race the head-quarters of 

 the committee, the White Hart at Aylesbury, was 

 crowded with the elite of the sporting world ; every inn 

 was filled, and stables were at a premium. There was no 

 railway then to the town, and as the race was timed for 

 twelve o'clock, there was but little chance of visitors 

 from London arriving in time unless they came over- 

 night. The course determined on was from Waddesdon 

 wind-mill, about four and a half miles from Aylesbury, to 

 a field in front of the church, the steeple of which forms 

 a distinctive feature in the district and for some miles 



