A MEET AT CLAY15URV 29 



again they swung over the road, quickly to recross it, by which time the 

 ladies had fairly settled down to their work, and raced their fox in the 

 direction of Beauchamp Roothing up to the church, leaving it on the right, 

 then through Abbess Roothing to Row Wood, which the fox reached 

 scarcely a minute in front of hounds. Time up to this point one hour and 

 ten minutes, most of it very fast. The best of the run was now over, for 

 although hounds, when they got on the line again from Row Wood, ran 

 fairly well to Man Wood (by the bye, a double post and rails out of plough, 

 and a rotten-banked brook, presented themselves on the way, the former to 

 be flown by Mr. P. Hargreaves and Firr, which speaks well for the stamina 

 of their horses, and the latter to hold a hard-riding man on a chesnut horse), 

 hounds were too far behind their fox, with a failing scent, to do much good. 



They got away from Man Wood with a fox, most likely a fresh one, and 

 ran to White Roothing, where he was lost ; horses had had quite enough, 

 and had very little jump left in them. Prominent among those who rode 

 well to the front through the whole run were — Mr. Sworder, of Tawney 

 Hall, whom few, if they saw him ride, would believe will be 70 next birth- 

 day ; and Mr. Mills, of Garnish Hall, a neighbouring farmer, who has 

 probably hunted with the Essex Hounds longer than most, having been 

 entered in the late Mr. Conyer's time. 



Monday, December 19th, 1881. — The meet was at Claybury, but not 

 finding there or in the surrounding woods, a move was made to Gen. 

 Wood's coverts, where the dog pack soon got away with one of the 

 right sort. Changing their fox at the Osiers, they had a good hunting run 

 of an hour and a half in which Bailey showed great perseverance, a drain, 

 inacessible to terrier and spade, unfortunately robbing hounds of their well- 

 deserved fox. Mr. G. Hart did a good deal of the piloting in this run. 



The morning's sport on Wednesday, December 21st, 1881, when we met 

 at Nasing, was characterised by a good sharp gallop from Galley Hill and 

 a ring from the same wood, the fox taking a line which differed from that 

 usually selected, as he broke covert on the Waltham side. Not many, I 

 am told, were with the hounds when they crossed the road at the bottom 

 of the hill, and fewer still when, in ten minutes, they ran into their fox in 

 a new-built cottage near Warlies. 



The next fox they got away with from Galley Hill stuck to the woods, 

 running through Deer Park (where I fell in with them) and adjoining 

 woods, crossing the brook to Warlies, and then back to Galley Hill, where 

 he managed to give hounds the slip. Foxes were viewed in all directions 

 in this run, which, combined with a bad scent and a high wind, made it 

 rather a puzzling matter for huntsman and hounds. Nasing Coppice was 

 next drawn. That few expected we should find here was evident, for 

 hounds were away at the bottom end and a good way down the common 

 before anyone knew it, the first to do so being Mr. Miller, who disappeared 

 over a most uninviting looking drop on to the common. What a rush there 

 was, for hounds were going a great pace up wind over the common. They 

 did not go halfway across before they were over the line, the fox having 

 turned sharp to the left ; but, hitting it off, they went up the hill as fast as 

 they had gone down, reaching the top between Deer Park and Nasing 

 Coppice, where they were momentarily at fault ; however, they required no 

 lifting, but working it out, they were again in full swing. Leaving Mr. 

 Nicholls' farm on the right, they ran through Ball Hill, then bearing 

 to the right over some nice fences, stiff enough to cause a good average 

 number of croppers. Mr. Walmsley, acting the good Samaritan, had hold 

 of one riderless steed, which he was not able to stop before reaching a fence; 

 it certainly looked as if they meant having it together. Crossing the 



