284 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



minutes with a kill from the Menagerie ; ask Mr. Fane about this run— it 

 was his fox and his country. 



iNIonday, IVIarch 12th. — Blackmore. Those in the know scored with 

 their second horses in the run from Witney to the High Woods. 



Saturday, March 17th.— The Kennels. Forty-five minutes on the 

 grass with a kill sent a big field home in a very contented frame of mind. 



Wednesday, March 21st. — A great scent on the grass, not only in 

 Essex, but in the Midlands. The Pytchley scored two very good runs, 

 a kill, and to ground ; we did the same. 



To have been out only thirty-five times, including cub-hunting, and to have 

 taken part in over a score of such good days, will be admitted by all as a liigh 

 percentage of fine sport. The writer only trusts that many others have been 

 equally fortunate, and that should he be permitted to chronicle the sport 

 with these hounds another season, he may have as good if not a better 

 record to show, and he would finally hope that all those who, by dire stress 

 of circumstances, have been unable to participate in the fun this winter, 

 will be in our midst in the thick of the fray when another season dawns. 



Very early in the cubbing season of 1894, "^^e had a foretaste of the good 

 things to come in a fifty minutes' burst in the open from Garnett's, when 

 a gentleman,* who had only recently taken up his residence in the country, 

 scored all the tricks, and one of our hardest thrusters | came to grief on a 

 hireling no less than four times. 



Wednesday, October loth, 7 a.m., at Latton, was the first appearance 

 of a good many of us at the covert side this season, including the Master, 

 Mr. Arkwright, fresh from Scotland, looking bronzed and well. It was 

 hardly a morning on which to expect any of the fair sex to turn out, as the 

 rain came down in a real steady downpour, but neither this nor the early 

 hour deterred Lady Warwick and many other fair sportswomen from 

 gracing the meet with their presence. Latton Park without cubs may be 

 looked for when fair ladies have no admirers but not before, so having 

 routed the cubs, as well as a fair scent would permit, hounds were taken 

 on to Parndon Woods and Mr. Todhunter's spinney, where there was a 

 good show. A short spin in the open brought a by no means unsatisfactory 

 morning to a close, and those who are fond of jumping big blind places 

 could not complain of lack of opportunity. 



Saturday, October 13th, found all who had assembled at Sheering 

 Street, at 7 a.m., shrouded in mist, including the ]\Iaster, Mr. Arkwright, 

 and his wife, Lord Rookwood, Mr. R. Bevan, Mr. H. Fowler, Mr. Crocker, 

 Dr. Grubb, Mr. Chaffey-Collin, Mr. Swire, Mr. N. Gilbey, Messrs. T. and 

 G. Gilbey, Mr. H. E. Jones, Mr. E. Quare and Miss Quare, Messrs. G. 

 and W. Sewell, Mr. Lobb, Mr. Lines, and others. Before the curtain of 

 steamy fog had risen hounds were thrown into the Down Hall coverts, 

 which were alive with cubs, three going away at once. 



Hounds could be heard but not seen, as they crossed the Down Hall 

 brook, and the field scattered right and left to find a place over, but the 

 music came floating back before they had crossed, and hounds returned 

 with a cub towards Matching Tye, but soon were at fault — just as well, 

 for every minute the mist was disappearing, and by the time we reached 

 Matching Park it had rolled away before a brilliant sun. For some ten 

 minutes hounds rang the changes with three cubs, which crossed and 

 recrossed the rides, while most of us having safely negotiated one, of the 



Mr. Newman Gilbey, who has taken Mark Hall, 

 t Mr. Chaffey-Collin. 



