26 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



found himself on the floor. No ; you had to undo his 

 bridle and fasten it by the side of his head, and even then with 

 a stranger he was very tricky, the pecuHarity arising most 

 probably from the caustic treatment of warts in his ear ; but 

 when the bridle was safely on he was worth all the care and 

 attention bestowed upon him, for he stood out, though only 

 15.2, a hunter anyone would have been glad to have had a day 

 on, and the best Mr. Pelly ever possessed. Originally the 

 property of Mr. Brand, Master of the Southdown, he was 

 purchased by Sir H. Selwin Ibbetson during his Mastership 

 of the Essex Hunt, and ridden by his huntsman for three 

 seasons, rarely ever giving him a fall, and confessedly one 

 of the best horses Bailey ever rode. On Sir Henry 

 resigning the Mastership of the Essex Hounds in 1886, he 

 came into Mr. Felly's possession and has been ridden by him 

 ever since. He is still as game as a pebble and retains 

 sufficient of his wonderful staying powers and love of fencing 

 to make him a delightful mount ; what he could do in the 

 year 1896 Mr. Pelly fully demonstrated in the great Dagenham 

 run of January 6th. 



The order was soon given for Curtis Mill Green ; this made one-horse 

 men shake their heads and look serious. But what could they do on such 

 a scenting day ? Certainly not go home, and quite right, for they were 

 amply rewarded for staying out with twenty-five minutes of the best from 

 Curtis Mill Green. If the country had been rough before lunch it was 

 twice as bad after, and tired horses were falling in all directions. I am 

 afraid that one man* broke his collar bone. Where did you get your 

 fall, Mr. Maurice,! and yours. Major Glynn, and yours, Capt. Beresford? 

 The old line from Curtis Mill Green to the Horseshoe wood at Rose Hall, 

 no better and no rougher ; the huntsman was riding a clinking good horse, 

 but he only just got over the wide bramble fence near Mr. Miles' off-hand 

 farm ; it brought Mr. Horner, sen., down, but on the right side. 



Without a check hounds went straight down to the river, ran its banks 

 for 100 yards towards the Navestock coverts, and then dashing in, shook 

 themselves on the opposite side, and went chiming away over the grass 

 towards Stanford Rivers. Back for your life ! back to the bridge by the 

 mill ! and not one of us overtook hounds again before we reached the road 

 below Mr. Freeman's farm, where luckily they had checked. With one 

 wave of his cap the huntsman put them on the line, and they streamed 

 away up the grass for Berwick Wood, and out at the top of the next 

 covert on the right, where the run virtually came to an end, for coming 

 out hounds made a most curious backward cast ; and although Bailey took 

 hold of them and held them on to Knightsland, into which the fox was 

 viewed by Easterby, he slipped away without his seeing him ; but as we 

 rode home we passed the men who halloaed him on to Ongar Park, while 

 further on, near the woods, a man cutting bushes waved his arm showing 

 where our fox had gained this fastness — a good bold fox and a good bold 



* Mr. C. Savill. t Major Maurice Marter. 



