Lotoii Park. 15 



a fox till tliey arrived at Sliawbury Heath, when they 

 ran up to x\cton Eexnald, but could do nothing on that 

 dry side of the country. A very poor day. 



On Wednesday the Shropshire were at Loton Park, 

 where Sir Baldwyn Leighton had purposely stayed at 

 home to meet them, and was exceedingly keen to show 

 them foxes. This he succeeded in doing in a nice covert 

 in the lower country south of the park. Scent was 

 miserable in the covert, and had the fox been a stay-at- 

 home gentleman the hounds could never have hunted at 

 all. As it was, he made tracks quickly for the big wood, 

 above the turnpike road, and thence into tlie park, back 

 to the aforesaid big wood, and then into the top of the 

 park, to ground in a rabbit burrow under shelving rock, 

 where he could barely squeeze himself ont of sight. 

 Picks and spades soon obliged him to bolt. A quick 

 scurry in view, and he was rolled over at the bottom of 

 the park, trying to scale the wall. This was not a 

 solitary fox at Loton, as another fox was viewed out of 

 covert. Eowton had just been shot, so that Mr. Shaw 

 could hardly have been expected to show us a fox, but 

 Bickley Wood was not long in doing justice to its wonted 

 reputation — the property of a quondam master. A good 

 fox, too, for he very quickly quitted his snug quarters, 

 and, crossing the Holyhead Eoad, went a good line just 

 above Preston Montford, hounds settling on him nicely 

 up to the road opposite Onslow. When, misereri mei, 

 just as we were beginning to think of riding, and two or 

 three awkward fences had been crossed, the word went 

 forth, " Get forward, Harry, my orders are not to let 

 them cross the road into Onslow." There was a long 

 blast of the horn, the whip went crack in the very teeth 

 of the scent, and our fun for to-day was over. The 

 Onslow coverts were to be shot next week, so they were 

 not to be disturbed. It might very properly be optional 

 in owners to decline to have their coverts drawn betore 

 they are shot, provided this prohibition does not extend 

 beyond the month of November or half of December. 

 In no case, however, should hounds be whipped off in 

 full cry. We speak in perfect good humour, and in the 

 hope of finding a happy solution to this delicate problem. 



Friday at Stanford Bridge was on the extreme boundary 

 of the country, near Newport, and I am fain to admit 

 that not a whisper of its doings has yet reached me. 



