18 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES. 



wlien tlie bitclies were screaming for his blood, at a 

 quarter to five in tlie evening, ending a first rate day's 

 sport. 



Sir AVatkin's, at Eednal, drew a large field. Their first 

 fox was overtaken in his slumbers in Sandford Pool, which 

 did not astonish me, seeing what happened at Hinton and 

 elsewhere. The second at Grafton Gorse at once 

 went to ground, as did a bad one from Nesscliff. 

 The Grafton fox having been unearthed, refused to show 

 sport and tried in vain the shelter of a hay loft. A 

 miserably disappointing day. Sir Watkin, however, 

 hear, had a grand run f i-om near Wrexham last week, in 

 which the l)ee was crossed, and Saighton Gorse, in 

 Cheshire, was the finale, the fox getting to ground there, 

 and saving his brush for another da}^ 



On Tuesday, Mr. Corbet did not put in an appearanr^e 

 at Wrenbury, much to the disappointment of a large 

 number of men who hunt here by rail. 



Wednesday with the Shropshire at Lythwood was 

 a real hunting morning and the gathering betokened 

 a remembrance of the great run from here to the 

 Stretton Hills this time last year. Mr. Hulton- 

 Harrop cheered us by cherry l)randy, but to his 

 woeful disappointment not a vestige of a fox Avas at home. 

 The Boniere and Condover coverts being now solely devoted 

 to pheasants, were, of course, a sealed book to us, 

 so there was nothing for it but to droj) down to the Day- 

 house Spinnies, and failing these lo go on to Hanwood, 

 where some splendid lying was diligently searched, as 

 vainly as the Quarry gardens would have been. It is sad 

 indeed to have such an unvaried tale of disaster to fox- 

 hunting to tell of on this side of the country, but Avhat 

 is the use of hiding the truth ? What must that excellent 

 ex-M.F.H., sportsman, and politician. Colonel Corbett, 

 think of his tenant at Longnor, Mr Chaml)erlain, when 

 he knows that he not only himself shot a fox last week, 

 but allowed his keepers and beaters to knock another's 

 brains out ? — when entangled in a net, I suppose ? Let 

 us pray that Birmingham may soon receive him into its 

 bosom again, never to return to Shropshire. Happily, 

 there is a brighter page with which to conclude, and one 

 that will assist to wipe out the shadow of Wednesday. 

 Haughmond Abbey is always lovely and picturesque. It 

 never loomed us more grandly than with the brilliant 



