78 BUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES, 



quite impracticable, while, as I write, March is being 

 ushered in by rude Boreas and snow, rendering the 

 proverbial Baschurcli Monday once more a delusion. 

 Perhax^s, after all, this snow is coming to clear off the 

 remnant of its predecessors that still lingers on the hills, 

 and that in a few days we shall be tasting the first 

 delights of spring. 



The land of Ludlow rejoices in that the reign of Wick- 

 ■sted is not to be cut short — his abdication having been 

 withdrawn. The old Woore verses will still ring out 

 with truth, and " We'll still go a hunting with Charlie." 



Our local steeplechasing opens this week at Welsh- 

 pool, that is if the awe-inspiring elements will sufficiently 

 relent to enable what was last year a very stiff and badly 

 laid outline to be negotiated safely. All the world goes 

 ^o Welshpool, which is decidedly fun. 



Do not forget, my foxhunting friends, about the 

 meeting on Saturday to consider what shall be done 

 . about hunting the South country next season. 



NINETEENTH WEEK, March 1st to the 6th. 



The record has been beaten, and the Ides of March may 

 prove more inexorable than living memory can recall. 

 What folly it seems to head an article with " Horses and 

 Hounds " when, like Othello, " their accupation is gone," 

 and this detestable winter has made prisoners of hunting 

 men for another long snowy and frost-bound week. To 

 look forward with such a determined foe at our door is 

 impossible, so the only alternative is to take a leaf out 

 of the currant jelly book and cast back. Here I 

 accidently hit on a pleasant bit of stale scent — a line 

 written as far back as 1832, on the late Mr. Wicksted 

 and the Woore country, and of Shropshire, which may 

 beguile a few minutes now. My author says : — *' On 

 reaching Beteley, I was sorry to find Mr. Wicksted had 

 •been labouring under ill-he a,lth, from which, however, 

 he is progressively recovering. He accompanied me to 

 'the kennels. A period of five or six years has elapsed 



