Folntoii Springs. 81 



(Could not exist here ; he would be avoided as a pest, or 

 driven from the country like a mad dog : — My ears v^ere 

 not stunned with the vociferation — ' 'Ware wheat ! 

 'Ware clover ! 'Ware seeds ! ' so common in many other 

 parts of England. In Shropshire, the farmers 

 themselves are the first to set the example of riding over 

 wheat. 



"The Wrekin, which forms a conspicuous object from 

 many situations in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, 

 and w^liich holds many foxes, is seldom, if ever, drawn. 

 Foxes frequently make for this celebrated mountain, 

 where they are given up. I was told that it is impossible 

 to get foxes away from it : yet Tom Moody made them 

 fly. It may surely answer the purpose of cub-hunting. 

 Hawkstone is equally difficult, foxes will not leave it. 



The most extraordinary run which has occured this 

 ■season with the Shropshire hounds, took place in the early 

 part of the month of December. The fixture was Ercall 

 Mill. A fox w^as found in Pointon Springs, he was 

 rattled through various coverts, and stood up before the 

 hounds for two hours and a quarter, in which time he had 

 led them across twenty five miles of country, a great part 

 of which had been at a quick pace, when he contrived to 

 ^et to ground, the leading hounds at his brush. The drain 

 was of no great extent, and some of the hounds forced 

 themselves into it at both ends ; so that the fox was 

 placed between two parties of his unsparing pursuers, and 

 thus deprived of the power of moving either way, while 

 the latter were unable to reach their object. Will Staples, 

 the huntsman, began to move the earth with the end of 

 his whip (the drain being superficial) while his whips were 

 in quest of more effective instruments for the purpose. 

 By the time a spade was procured, Staples had ascertained 

 the exact position of the fox. He was immediately 

 bolted, and not being able to run, sought shelter under 

 the briars in the ditch. Staples instantly thrust his 

 hands into the briars and seized the^ fox ; but unluckily 

 placing one hand by the side of the fox's head, and 

 happening to have a crooked finger upon that hand — from 

 some previous injury — which came laterally in contact 

 with the fox's mouth, the latter got it between his 

 grinders, where he held it almost as fast as if it had been 



