452 



LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



Brought forward £i,']']o o o 



Mr. J. W. P. WatHngton 10 o o 



,, E. Boards ... ... 10 o o 



,, W. Block ... ... 10 o o 



;^i,8oo o o 



Louis SoAMES, Hon. Sec. 

 NoTE.s, 1868-69. 



Weather. November was dry and cold. March was very 

 cold with snow and keen biting winds. December, January 

 and February, were mild and moist, with frequent storms. 

 The whole season was singularly open. Hunting was stopped 

 for a week only by frost ; our real and only winter was in 

 March. April and May were seasonable spring weather, some- 

 times cold, but refreshed with menial showers. 



Foxhounds. None of the Essex packs had a good season. 

 Two (Scratton's and Marriott's) changed their Masters at the end 

 of the season, and the third (Arkwright's) desired to do likewise, 

 but could not find a suitable successor. Dick Christian leaves 

 Arkwright to go back to his native Leicestershire (Tailby's). 



Harriers. Saw less sport than usual on the days I went 

 out with Charlie.* Frederick Petre sold his little pack. 



Staghounds had a good season as usual, and increased in 

 popularity. The fixtures were wider apart, making a fair 

 distribution of country. Larger fields assembled, indeed too 

 many towards the close, including some notables from a 

 distance. 



The breakfast at Thoby Priory was a success. It was 

 proposed to make arrangements for hunting two days a week 

 next season, but so poor a response was made to my circular 

 letters, that I advised Mr. Henry Petre to abandon the idea. 



Arthur Heathcote, of Durdans, with whose staghounds I 

 hunted in Surrey three seasons, died of gastric fever in March, 

 1869. 



C. R. V. accomplished the greatest number of hunting days 

 yet attained by him, viz., ninety-three ; riding 774 miles across 

 country with only two falls of any consequence, and not hurt 

 by them. 



Fire at Holbrook's. While seated quietly at the dinner- 

 table at Hean Castle, on Tuesday, August 10th, 1869, at 

 8 o'clock on a fine summer evening, after a showery day, the 

 followino- sensational teleoram reached me. " The Ridino- 



00 c5 



Mr. Vickerman's son. — En. 



