Haughmond Bill — Acton Beynald. 88 



Alas ! after trotting along for a mile or two the affair 

 came to an end a little beyond Wroxeter. Thatcher 

 tried a long cast forward, but it was whispered in my ear 

 by a native that there was an earth open in a garden at 

 Wroxeter^ and I expect our friend was safe and sound 

 there all the time. 



We next drew one or two coverts blank, till we came 

 to a piece of gorse at Longnor, where the hounds devoured 

 an ill-starred fox which could not get out north (where he 

 intended to), for there he encountered a body of 

 pedestrians, who headed him back. Some who were not 

 afraid of the sound of their own voices, 

 harangued these gentlemen in language more 

 forcible than polite. Happy thought ! How would it be 

 to have a Whip specially appointed for this style of 

 sportsman ? A few minutes later, in the quarry at 

 Haughmond Hill, we chopped another fox. That well- 

 known character, ''The Eanning Devil," was 

 seen marching off with half the carcase. No 

 doubt the suggestion of an enemy of his (probably 

 an unsuccessful rival), that he was taking it home for 

 supper, was untrue, and that he thought the hounds had 

 had enough to eat in the last half hour without it. 



We then drew the Sundorne coverts without success 

 ■until after four o'clock, when we almost all returned 

 home ; but I hear that soon after a fox was found which 

 gave a good run due north toward Acton Reynald. 



At Acton Reynald fortune did not favour the brave. 

 Of two foxes in the gorse one was run for a few fields, and 

 lost abruptly. The rest of Acton Reynald, Shawbury, 

 and Moreton Corbet was blank. At Preston Springs there 

 were foxes in plenty. A vixen was killed without a run, 

 and then hounds divided after two foxes, one of which 

 gave us a sharp fifteen minutes, when we lost him again 

 in Preston Springs, where we picked up the rest of the 

 hounds again There was no further sport. 



NINTEENTH WEEK, Makch 2 to 7. 



Shrewsbury races have taken an important step 

 towards resuscitation since I last wrote of them. The 

 proprietors of the course have modified their terms in 

 such a way as to gain their acceptance by the committee 



