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a Friday meet can also boast of such a corps of hard 

 and finished riders as is not to be seen at the covert-side 

 elsewhere. On these occasions it is next to impossible 

 to secure fair play for the hounds, should the scent be 

 a poor one, or the fox a twister. Hunting is out of the 

 question, and all that can be hoped for is a straight, quick 

 gallop, w^hen the pack can keep moving steadily onwards. 

 But here we are reminded of another point which mili- 

 tates greatly against any certainties o£ sport, even in the 

 favoured regions we are discussing; and that is the 

 difficulties that beset the path of a fox, however well dis- 

 posed, indeed the marvel is, that we ever find one bold 

 enough to face the open at all. As he crosses the big grass 

 fields he has no shelter from the eye of shepherd or 

 traveller, who can view him a mile away, and who are 

 only too dehghted with the chance of exercising their 

 lungs, and proving their love of sport, by sending 

 screeches o£ fearful import after him. They are still 

 better pleased if they can get a sheep dog to course him, 

 and many a time have I heard a gentle bucolic recount 

 with glee how he " seed him a coming, looed on the old 

 dog, and uncommon nigh catched him." The sheepdogs 

 themselves have a natural predilection for chasing a fox ; 

 and though, w^hen they succeed in coming up to him he 

 can invariably drive them off, the run is generally ruined 

 by their interference. More sport is spoiled by these 

 pastoral scourges than any other cause ; for there would 

 seem to be a separate dog kept for each sheep in 

 Leicestershire, and they are ever on the alert to do 

 mischief. * ^ ^ * * 



It was said only the other day by a sportsman who 

 numbered his years of hunting by scores, that " he had 

 seen one lot of riding men succeed another in Leicester- 

 shire, but he had never seen so many or so hard as those 

 of the present day." Lord Wilton's name will be 



