320 lf.avp:s i-kom a hunting diary 



the above notes, which accompanied the portrait of himself, 

 his favourite hunters and trusty servant. On the contrary, I 

 seize the opportunity to avail myself of his permission to 

 extract from his unique and most interesting hunting- diary, lent 

 to me at the request of his nephew, the late Mr. John V. 

 Longbourne, some of the most notable runs through which 

 these gallant horses carried their owner ; also to relate a few 

 of the adventures which have befallen him in his long hunting- 

 career, and which, if given in full, as most of my readers 

 will concur with me in hoping they may be at no distant 

 date, will make a volume of striking interest ; not only to 

 Essex sportsmen, but to all lovers of the horn and its associa- 

 tions, where'er they live or roam, for his diary, commencing in 

 the year 1844- 1845, and running on to 1887- 1888, deals with 

 fifty-nine packs of hounds in twenty-three different counties. 



Mr. Vickerman was living at The Priory, Blackmore, when 

 he rode " Carlow " for the first time on November 6th, 1844, 

 and though delighted with his speed and fencing, he could not 

 hold him in the light double bridle he was trying, and five or 

 six times had the reins fairly pulled out of his hand — con- 

 gratulated by some and envied by others for possessing him. 

 In a very straight gallop from Dunmow High Woods on 

 Saturday, November i6th, "Carlow" seems to have gone to 

 his owner's satisfaction, jumping a gate out of a farm yard into 

 a road beautifully and clearing one wide place where the 

 Huntsman (Jim Morgan) and John Burge (?) trying to follow 

 him, fell side by side. 



Mr. Vickerman was much amused to hear that Mr. Adams, 

 the late owner, who was vexed at parting with him, had 

 reported that " I was sick of the horse and wanted to sell him, 

 and also that John Bramston looked at him with a jealous eye." 

 He writes : " Ingersole mounted a cap for first time, the first 

 person who followed my example."* Mr. Campbell, from 

 India, with eye glass, rode well, but required a team at last to 

 extricate him from a deep ditch. Ten days later Morgan, the 

 Huntsman, told me that the old Squire f called at his house 

 last evening and observing "how well the little man in the cap 

 went on the brown horse on Saturday, enquired whether the 

 little man was likely to sell the horse. Morgan replied "not 

 the slightest chance of it." I confirmed Morgan's opinion, and 

 gave him a quotation from Shakespeare, "There is a tide," 



* Mr. Vickerman always rode in a cap and set the fashion in Essex. — Ed. 

 t The Master, Mr. John Conyers. — Ed. 



