APPENDIX 471 



and glass." This unfortunate fiasco bears a marked resemblance to James 

 Piggs' adventure in the melon frame. Lady Mary's gardener appreciated 

 the simile, much as he was annoyed by the damage to the property en- 

 trusted to him. I feel sure that all members of the Belvoir Hunt will 

 sympathise with Lumsden for the damage done to the garden, and with the 

 duke for the injuries received by the hounds, some of which were rather 

 severe. We have forgotten pug all this time. It is needless to say they 

 killed him in the gardens. A capital run, one hour and four minutes ; not 

 fast, by any means, but one of your nice old-fashioned runs. 



Tuesday, the 25th, the meet at Rauceby. As was expected, a sharp 

 frost, but still quite good enough to hunt. At Belvoir, I believe, they had 

 three inches of snow ; and both whips being ill was, I think, sufficient 

 excuse for their non-appearance. 



Scout. 



Sir, — Will you allow me to supplement " Scout's " description of the 

 famous Aswarby run in last week's Field by saying that the run was not 

 ended when the hounds crossed the Billingboro' drain, as many supposed, 

 but lasted nearly an hour longer. Most of the field, seeing the almost im- 

 possibility of crossing this drain, gave it up and went home; however, a 

 few galloped round by the bridge (two miles off), and got on terms with the 

 pack again near Parker's farm. The fox then retraced his steps and re- 

 crossed the drain, when the second whip pluckily tried his luck in scram- 

 bling down the steep bank, and, successfully fording the stream, showed 

 the way to some half-dozen other venturesome spirits. Then all went 

 merrily again for a time until the fox was changed again at Bridge-end, 

 when some slow hunting followed up to within a field of the Forty-foot, 

 and nothing more could be made of him. Besides the huntsman and 

 second whip, only five — viz.. Colonel Reeve, Captain de Burton, and 

 Messrs. Godson, Tomlinson and Heathcote — persevered to the end. Time, 

 nearly three hours ; distance from kennels, twenty-six miles. 



Tally-ho. 



With The Belvoir.! 



Sport during the last week has been at a very low ebb, and had it not 

 been for the eight-and-twenty minutes at Goadby last Wednesday, I should 

 have said quite at a standstill. We must be contented, however, for after 

 the excellent runs of the previous fortnight, a slight calm ought to be not 

 unexpected. 



A blazing sun, hotter by far than on an ordinary English summer day, 

 does not tend to create sport, irrespective of March winds roaring like a 

 lion and hurling along clouds of dust, like so many diminutive simooms. 

 Top hats in a gale of wind are, to say the least of it, uncomfortable, and, 

 were it not for the sake of personal appearance, would immediately be 

 discarded by me for the more comfortable hog-hunter. 



If you don't know Byard"s Leap, take my advice and go when next 

 the hounds meet there on a sultry day like last Tuesday, and a pretty sight 

 will greet you as you canter your hack along the greensward of the old 

 Roman road, designated by the names of Ermine Street and High Dyke. 

 Your curiosity being aroused, you picture, undoubtedly, to yourself a 

 yawning precipice covered by brushwood and brambles. Nothing of the 

 kind ; merely a sHght ascent on a road, where, as the legend says, a horse, 



* See also Frank Gillard's " Hunting Reminiscences." By Cuthbert Bradley. I'age 131. 

 —Ed. 



t From 7'ke Field, March 15th, 1879. 



