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193 



whip made a rare bungle at one, the quick men leaving him to it, and 

 jumping a big fence at the side. Jump the first three fences whatever 

 they are, and you may ride in peace and comfort for the rest of the run, 

 provided it is straight, through well-hung gates has hitherto been my 

 experience of the Pytchley country. 



Report has it that the Quorn domain is very similar, but one can 

 hardly form a fair judgment from one day's experience, though cast in one 

 of the best parts of their country, Ashby Folville, on Friday last. From 

 a hunting point of view it is perfection : not a yard of wire, not a warning 

 post, to be seen anywhere, for under the magic influence of Lord Lonsdale's 

 regime they have all disappeared. The Coplow to John o'Gaunt in the 

 evening was no distance (we saw the Quorn at their fastest in a three-mile 

 steeplechase from the first covert near Lowesby in the morning), but Tom 

 Firr's musical voice, as it rang out over the open earth, was as well worth 

 listening to as the long blast upon the horn (as it sounded the note for 

 home) rising and falling like the distant echo of a song. 



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17 J l.> > •'■ 



Barnsleys 



Melton, St. Pancras, Harlow — in time, if not for the general meeting, 

 at all events for the aftermath at 12. (Don't you like 12 o'clock meets at 

 the end of the season ? I do.) What a large muster we had, but the spell 

 of a great day's sport upon the most important one in the annual history of 

 our hunt has been broken at last. Year after year we have had great runs, 

 but this time it was not to be. But no one murmured, still less grumbled, 

 for they were in much too good spirits at the satisfactory conclusion of the 

 hunt meeting. Radical as we may be in many matters, we are all staunch 

 Conservatives when it comes to the question of the well-being of our Hunt, 

 and none of us care for change, still less to be in the unenviable position of 

 about thirty oarks of hounds, as stated in one of the papers, as wanting 



