84^ HUNTING AND SPORTING NOTES. 



appointed to promote the races, and four names have 

 been submitted for a new lease of twenty-one years, with 

 the option on the lessees' part to relinquish it at the end 

 of seven or fourteen years. It is intended to assign this 

 lease to a limited company, with a capital of £2,000, in 

 shares of £25 each, of which £5 is to be paid up. A 

 large portion of this capital has already been taken up, 

 but it is desired to have the support of the county gentle- 

 men on the directorship. Several have already agreed 

 to take shares, and others will now be requisitioned with 

 the same object. There will be two meetings a year 

 — one in the spring, and the other in the autumn. 

 Steeplechasing and local stakes will be encouraged and 

 provision made for the carriages of the county families, 

 which Mr. Frail banished from the course. The new 

 company will be open to encourage athletics and cricket 

 on the course, as well as other legitimate amusements. 



I am not ashamed of the four horses that I chose out 

 of the Grand National Steeplechase as likely to be near 

 the mark. They must have afforded good hedging to any 

 bold investor. Eoquefort, Zoedone, Frigate, and New 

 Meadow will, I think, have a good deal to do with the 

 finish on the day of the race. 



Welshpool this week will open the ball auspiciously in 

 this locality. The entries are encouraging. Nightingale, 

 if he appears, looks like winning one race or more. 



I saw a useful hunter sire on Saturday at Mr. Litt's, 

 which had just arrived ; Linnaeus, by Strathconan, out of 

 Sweet Violet, by Voltigeur. What his destiny may be I 

 do not know, but he is of the right stamp, and took my 

 fancy immensely. 



As to hunting, the week has hardly been productive of 

 such sport as might have been expected. The only 

 tolerable day of which the Shropshire have to boast is 

 Monday at Coton Hall. The Twemlows seems to be the 

 best stocked fox covert in the hunt, as it has afforded no 

 end of foxes this year, and to-day was requisitioned more 

 than once satisfactorily. The first fox went across the 

 railway to Coton, and was lost ; the second ran towards 

 Sandford and then back to Frees, and was very erratic ; 

 the third was the best, and, although not straight, took 

 in Weston Hill, the Lower Heath, a visit towards Wem 

 and Soulton Wood, in the hour and a quarter he amused 

 his pursuers, before beating them. Altogether, it was a- 



