2 74 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



G. H. Lee, E. Lobb, Colonel Lockwood, Dr. Harris-Butler, Major Ricardo. 

 On foot, Mrs. Bennet and Miss Prance. 



Saturday, October 7th. Epping old church, 7 a.m. Overnight I had 

 not intended to hunt, but the sound of horses trotting past my house 

 at 6.45 awoke me, and I resolved to go for a ride at all events. Breakfast- 

 ing at 8, I was on old " Liscarton " before g, and a lovely morning it was for 

 a ride, a cloudless sky with a puff of wind from the east. 



In the first field near the Bury Farm (Mr. Furze's) I met William Foster 

 (son of old Foster, a well-to-do tailor in Epping when I first came to live 

 in Essex), and he told me that hounds had had two good runs, one from 

 Orange Wood and the other from the Warren, and that they had returned 

 towards Copped Hall. Jogging quietly on I fell in with hounds in the 

 Warren and learnt that they had not really done much, as scent was very 

 indifferent. There were a good many people out, including C. E. Green, 

 F. Green, H. Jones, Miss M. Green, R. Y. Bevan, H. J. Price, John and 

 Maurice White, H. J. Miller, G. H. Lee, W. Cook, E. Cockett, Mr. and 

 Mrs. Weston Crocker, Vivian Nickalls, the famous sculler (just the man to 

 pull you out of a ditch) ; Harry Sworder, W. Sewell, Miss Dorothy Sewell, 

 S. Caldwell, F. Ball, Captain Wood, Mr. and Mrs. Waters, H. W. Lee. 



From Obelisk Wood we ran quite a pretty little ring to ground about 

 two fields from Galley Hills. Green had the cub dug out and killed. 

 The grass yielded but little to the impress of a horse's hoof, and rain, more 

 rain was decidedly wanted. 



Did not get any more hunting for eight weeks, missing thereby some 

 very good sport in November, the best November the Essex Hounds had 

 had for years. Mr. Frank Ball very kindly, however, supplied me with the 

 following notes, which will be found of considerable interest to those who 

 follow the fortunes of the Essex Hunt. 



The second fortniofht of " reoular huntino- " deserves a 

 detailed record. It opened with a brilHant brush on 

 November 20th, from Blake Hall to Hatfield Grange, in which 

 hounds distanced the field. Two days later, a most enjoyable 

 run from Ongar Park to a kill in Poles Wood, Kelvedon, was 

 slightly marred by difficulty in crossing the Roding. This was 

 followed by a busy Saturday from Hatfield Town, foxes being 

 found directly hounds were in covert at Row Wood, Poplars 

 and Canfield Thrift. Moderate scent baulked hounds of their 

 prey, though their last attempt was kept up for an hour in good 

 style. On the following Monday (27th) Mrs. Mcintosh's gorse 

 furnished one of the right sort. His first point was for 

 Bishops Hall, which he nearly reached, then swung round and 

 took us to Pyrgo and through Curtis Mill Green. A drain at 

 Suttons gave him refuge for a time ; then he made off to an old 

 earth near Tawney Hall, where he was left to run another day. 

 Wednesday (29th) found us at Galley Hills, a covert which has 

 afforded much of our sport during the present season. This 

 time we had a good gallop across the meadows by Holly Tree 

 Farm, then up to Mr. Bury's, where we changed foxes and ran 

 well back through Galley Hills, ending with another wide 



