12 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



no lack of tlieai, the prospects of sport for the ensuing season are very 

 promising. To return to Monday and Matching Green. Sir Henry 

 Selwin Ibbetson, field master present, having allowed liberal law for 

 late comers, gave the office to the huntsman, and the hounds were thrown 

 into Brick-kilns Wood, which, although of great extent, was drawn 

 blank. Man Wood, a regular stronghold for foxes, was fortunately quite 

 near, and the hounds soon made it too hot for Reynard, who quickly faced 

 the open, and ran straight to Down Hall, where he escaped by going to 

 ground. In this short but lively burst several eager sportsmen came to 

 grief. I certainly thought a gallant colonel'' who led the field — or that part 

 of the field which chose to follow him — over a stiff gate, deserved a better 

 fate than the bottom of a Roding ditch. After seeing the hopelessness of 

 getting the fox out of the earth, the hounds were taken back to Man 

 Wood, and their merry music soon proclaimed a find. The fox, an old one, 

 quickly went away, pointing for Down Hall, but, swinging to the right, he 

 made for Row Wood, which the hounds rattled him round, making him fiy 

 from its leafy precincts, then, with scarcely a check, through Bromshaw 

 Bury springs, they ran him to earth at Canfield Mount, at which point, 

 the pace having been so hot, and the fences so big, not more than a dozen 

 men were up. Conspicuous among them were Mr. George Dawson, a well 

 known bruiser with these hounds; Mr. Hervey Foster, Mr. F. Green, on 

 his good bay " Glynn," Mr. H. R. Bagot, on a vcvy fast and neat coh,] and 

 Mr. R. W'omersley. During the latter part of the run occurred one of 

 those accidents which are all the more serious as they can be avoided. A 

 gentleman j (whose horse fell with him on landing over a fence) was jumped 

 on, and narrowly escaped a broken leg. The volley of abuse which greeted 

 the perpetrator will, let us hope, be a sufficient warning for him to be 

 more careful in the future. Thus ended, with this exception, a very 

 pleasant day, though it was a matter of regret that hounds did not obtain 

 blood, which they so richly deserved. Too much credit cannot be given 

 to Bailey, who, although a stranger in the country — which with its wide 

 and blind ditches, is no easy one — is always with his hounds. 



1879. — On Saturday, November 8th, met at Thornwood Gate, once 

 a turnpike, and probably better known in the old coaching days, situated 

 about a mile from Epping, most of the prominent members of the hunt 

 being present — Mr. Arkwright on wheels, drawn by a pair of useful ones, 

 and always somewhere thereabouts wherever hounds go ; Mrs. Ark- 

 wright on her favourite grey; Sir H. Selwin Ibbetson, riding "Fritz"; 

 Mr. Perry Watlington, Mr. F. Green on a good weight-carrier ; Captain 

 and Mrs. Tait, Mr. Hervey Foster, Mr. George Dawson, Mr. A. Edwards, 

 Mr. Bawtree, Mr. Walmsley, Mr. R. B. Colvin, Major Howard, Col. 

 Lockwood, &c. The farmers, I am glad to say, were also well represented 

 during the day, among them being Mr. W. Symes, Mr. G. Brown, Mr. J. 

 Scruby, and Mr. Green, of Parndon. Mr. George Hart, one of Essex' best 

 sportsmen, was not out. If we had had a good run this day, I should have 

 had something more to say about the aforesaid farmers, as they are all 

 men who know how to go when hounds run, and the thicker the fences 

 the better they like it. A long string of horsemen, mingled with carriages, 

 approached Orange \\'ood, the first covert to be drawn ; and not in vain 

 either, for the Essex hounds know how to find a fox when there is one, and 

 make him seek safety in flight, which they did on this occasion, with a 



* Col. Lockwood, M.P. t Little Gallagher. 



X Poor Gribblc, killed in the Egyptian War, 1882. 



