2l8 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



must needs tempt a deer to go straight no less than a 

 horseman, but the animal, as I have said, is unac- 

 countably capricious, and if we could search his lord- 

 ship's diary I believe we should find his best runs have 

 taken place over a district differing in every respect 

 from the above. 



As soon as the leaves are fallen sufficiently to render 

 the Blackmoor Vale rideable, it is his greatest pleasure 

 to take the blood-hounds down to those deep, level, 

 and strongly-enclosed pastures, over which, notwith- 

 standing the size and nature of the fences, he finds his 

 deer (usually hinds) run remarkably well, and make 

 extraordinary points. Ten miles, on the ordnance map, 

 is no unusual distance, and is often accomplished in little 

 more than an hour. For men who enjoy riding I can 

 conceive no better fun. Not an acre of plough is to be 

 seen. The enclosures, perhaps, are rather small, but 

 this only necessitates more jumping, and the fences may 

 well satisfy the hungriest, or as an Irishman would say, 

 the thirstiest, of competitors ! They are not, however, 

 quite so formidable as they look. To accomplish two 

 blind ditches, with a bank between, and a hedge thereon, 

 requires indeed discretion in a horse, and cool deter- 

 mination in its rider, but where these exist the large 

 leap is divided easily by two, and a good man, who 



