HARLOW BUSH 137 



were not where they ought to have been when the fox was run into. Being 

 out for a little exercise in the afternoon, I came across one contingent of 

 bewildered sportsmen near Bishops Hall, with blank despair on their faces, 

 and wild entreaty in their tones as to where the hounds were — a thing I 

 very much wished to know myself. However, a keeper helped to solve the 

 knotty point by telling us that he had seen them pointing for Curtis-mill 

 Green and that they were running hard. 



Eventually we fell in with hounds on their way to draw again, but even 

 on the faces of those with them there was not that happy and beaming 

 expression one would like to have marked, after such a rattling gallop and 

 splendid finish, and a little bird did whisper to me that only about a dozen 

 besides Bailey had seen the fun. Another fox was viewed away from one 

 of Col. Lockwood's coverts near Apes Grove, but hounds could not run a 

 yard. 



Pastime for princes ; prime sport of our nation 



Strength in their sinew and bloom on their cheek : 



Health to the old, to the young recreation ; 

 All for enjoyment the hunting field seek. 



The " all " were decidedly in full force last Saturday. Harlow Bush has 

 its attractions. In the summer the fairest of the fair meet there to pursue 

 their favourite pastime, tennis, and as the days shorten they gather 

 together again at Harlow Bush Rooms, which stand out in the middle of 

 the common, to enjoy the stately waltz or the maddening galop, for are not 

 the Hunt and other balls held there ? But after all the greatest attraction 

 is a meet of the Essex Hounds. May it long continue to be so. The 

 secret of the popularity of the meet is the abundance of foxes in the neigh- 

 bouring coverts. Contrary to precedent, but no doubt in order to shake off 

 the numerous foot people, the hounds were taken off at a good pace to the 

 further end of Parndon Wood, and within five minutes of being thrown in 

 they had found. 



It is all very well to make certain good resolves that in big woodlands 

 you will keep within sight of the huntsman and never leave the beaten 

 track ; but how hard it is to carry them out. So it is no surprise when we 

 lose the hounds in Parndon, Ongar Park, Blackmore, and such-like woods, 

 and find oneself inquiring of every man on a stack, " Have you seen the 

 hounds ? " but thank your good luck, rather then commend your judgment, 

 if you do get away from these woods on anything like terms with hounds. 



Who got away when the fox tried to make his first point, but doubled 

 back and ran the further wood, I cannot say, but when he crossed the 

 road the Parndon side of the woods the second time, and another fox was 

 holloaed back at the same instant, there were very few near enough to see 

 Bailey enter the field, and cheer his hounds on to the fox they were run- 

 ning. Mr. George Hart was one. It is a hard matter for hounds to leave 

 him the wrong side or inside the biggest woodland, and I would wager that 

 that bugbear of the shires, Owston Wood, would not hold him. 



But they were away, and pointing as straight as an arrow for Parndon, 

 but taking a sharp turn, luckily a favourable one for most, whether they 

 had secured a good or a bad start, they left Mr. Coleman's Farm on the 

 left and crossed the road near Mr. Todhunter's, and bore up the hill on the 

 grass, ran the plantations in the park, in the furthest of which the body of 

 the pack come to a check. But two or three couples of hounds quicker 

 than the rest had gone on : a glimpse of their sterns as they disappeared 

 through a fence two fields ahead and their merry music gave Bailey a clue, 

 which he seized at once, and over the plough they went as fast as they had 

 gone on the grass, and inclining a little to the right and through a narrow 



