(OI.OM I, COOK 203 



A volume mi^lit easily Ix; vvriUcii abcnil MaU:liinf,^ (jiccn, and llic 

 famous meets and coverts with which its name is associated in llic hcails 

 and memories of all ICssex sportsnu;n, for since the days of Col. ("ooK it 

 has always held its own, and if \vr. do not see the hifj; runs wlii( li Iw a\<is 

 so fref]uently took pLuc in liis lime from Man Wood, llir u .ii.il Ime 

 beinj,' across to J)unmow lli^di Wood, then Loid Maynard s, yet we 

 have sport of a character which maintains the; rcpulalion ICss(;x has always 

 enjoyed for heinf; one of the best rural countri('S. 



Writing in 1826, ("ol. Cook, in his observations on fox lumlin[<, says : - 



" Tlie countiy is cliicfly under plougli, l)ut well drained, and il rides ii^iit in cDnipirisoii 

 with other ploujjhed countries; the ditches are rather wide, liui' noi' m.iND (liie i;i|)il:ds in 

 which these words appear are mine), and the scent after Christmas is invariajjly (^ood." 



All these remarks are etjually applicable to-day, with the exceptitjn of 

 the one 1 have emphasised, for perhaps no triu^r indication (jf the {^'radiial 

 decline in af,aicultural prosperity exists than these dit* lies, for ea( h year 

 they are f,'njwing more choked with vej^'etation, and are bc( ominj^^ as hard 

 to define as the banks of an oveiilowing stream. 



(Jf the foxes, Col. Cook says (in those days they were all stid) bred) : - 



" I IjeHeve tliere never was an instance of an old Xoothin^; fox having; lui-n kiil(<l wiili a 

 hunting scent ; if ymi do n.<l get away close at him, at the very IjcsI pace, lie ii(V('r will he 

 caught, and if you come lo a check with a hunting scent it is twenty in one ln' jjcals you." 



Here a^^ain we can cry ditto to the Colonel, for if foxes ;ire n(;t so stout 

 as in the days gone by, yet favoured by the blind ditches, of which they 

 take every advantage, running up and down them, they cfirlainly take 

 quite as much killing, and a pack of hoimds that can kill an ahcrntjon 

 Roothing fox in the present day might be trtisted to give a very good 

 account of themselves in any other country, for they must be steady, 

 staunch, and true, with noses as keen as mountain air. 



Could Col. Cook have been with us this day he wfjuld have vot(;(l it 

 a gay and stirring scene, but 1 am very mticli mistaken if he would iicjt 

 have pined for the smaller fields of the days gone by. What a bmnijer 

 gathering! Where could they all have come from, lor in my :,liort lime 

 how many old and familiar faces have disappean;(l lr(;m the ranks, but 

 how true it is that no sooner does one man fall out than another steps in 

 to take his place. 'J'here are, however, certain ga|)s which can never be 

 adequately filled by any new-comer, the last being- alas, that I should 

 have to record it 



Parson l*'aiH-, ///c fdlher of /he 1 1 mil, ,-ilmoM oik- (.f llir- 

 last survivals ol the ntcc ol iiiiiitiii^ p;ir',oii', kind, (oiirlcoiis 

 and considerate, a s]>orlsinan every iix li ol liim, ncvcr 

 ne^leclini:^ duty for f)leasure, a favourite witii ><>uii;4 and old, 

 ricli and poor : 



III-- was a man, take him for ail in all, 

 We shall not look upon his like again. 



I cannot pretend to give you a full list of those who were present to 

 meet our joint Masters— Mr. E. S. Jiowlby and Mr. Loftus Arkwright - 

 though possibly, if the suggestion of a writer in the i'idd of non-sub- 

 scribers having to buy a 5s. badge for their day's sport, ever comes to be 

 adopted, it may become feasible. i>ady Warwick drove a large party 

 over from JCaston (the distance Ijeing covered in a remarkably short time) 

 with a hired team, which she had never handled before, but even if they 

 had been as bad as iJick Vicker's Oswestry team, " three blind 'mis and 

 a bolter," with her i)erfect hands she would have brou'^dit Ihein up lo the 



