22 



EEMINISCENCES OF THE SHOWS OF 

 FOXHOUNDS AT OSBERTOIST, 



ABOUT 1825. 



Oh Charley,* from Betley, how dare you appear 

 With your Staffordshire turnspits in Nottinghamshire, 

 And before the fine judgment of Lambton to bring 

 A son of your Joker — some poor wretched thing — 

 Against Pipers and Nestors to bear off a prize. 

 Oh Charley ! hold hard, lest a thought should arise, 

 That hunting in coal pits has blinded your eyes. 

 The praises of Joker you've trumpeted forth 

 O'er London's grand city and far thro' the north, 

 Till you've cheated yourself into thinking, alas ! 

 That a trumpet of silver you'd gain for your brass ; 

 Or if broadcloth has tempted you hither to come, 

 How dismal the prospect next winter at home : 

 No saddle to shield you, no cloth will you win, 

 And Joker will prove a bad jest for your skin. 



E. HODSOF. 



This was a letter from Mr. Hodson to Mr. Wick- 

 sted before Mr. Foljambe's hound show, at which Mr. 

 Wicksted's hound, Joker, took the prize of a horn for 

 the master and a saddle and broadcloth for coats for 

 the men. 



* Charles Wicksted, Esq., of Betley, born 1796 ; also mentioned in "The 

 Woore Country," which he hunted. He afterwards kept a most beautiful 

 pack of harriers, a few of which his son, the present George Wicksted, brought 

 to Oxford, and with them established the Christchurch harriers. Mr. Wick- 

 sted died in 1870. His second son and namesake is the present master of the 

 Ludlow hounds, and to him I am indebted for these amusing epistles. 



