QUITE A RED LETTER DAY. IQ 



wall, bore to the left, over the brook, along the brook side at a 

 good pace, up to the Preston Road, crossed it and ran to 

 within a field of Price's Coppice, where the fox was chased by 

 a shepherd dog and checked us for five minutes ; hit him off 

 again through Price's Coppice, ran him twice round it, and he 

 went away like a shot out at the bottom, up to Cheselden's 

 Coppice ; here he was headed and bore to the right by a lodge 

 in the bottom up to Braunston, leaving the village on the right 

 — ^very fast. He ran across the road and up to Orton Park 

 wood ; he disdained the covert, leaving it on his left, also 

 leaving the line of plantations on his left he crossed the 

 Oakham and Knossington Road, and ran almost to Ranks- 

 borough, found that too hot for him, so he left the covert on 

 his left and ran up to the Langham Road, — up to this time we 

 had run him i hour 13 minutes, best pace, too good for most, 

 very few saw it at all, and I think I may say not more than 

 two saw the whole of it. There was a delay of a minute in 

 the Langham Road, but they soon hit it off again, and ran up 

 to Ashwell. Here we had a check of some ten minutes, but 

 Goddard persevered, held them on for Burley Plantations — 

 (everybody had gone home except residents in the neighbour- 

 hood)— hit him off in the plantations, got a holloa across the 

 Oakham and Cottesmore Road, ran into Burley Wood, skirted 

 the outside of it, down the avenue, through the osier bed, 

 across the Oakham Road, when I could see the fox was beat 

 by his going up and down two or three hedgerows ; ran him 

 on a good pace almost to Egleton, and ran into him on the 

 railway close to the Egleton crossing and within almost a 

 quarter-of-a-mile of Oakham Pasture, after the best day I 

 have ever seen of 3 hours 15 minutes. He was a fine old dog 

 fox, and I kept his brush as a memorial of so good and 

 satisfactory a run ; all the hounds up but one, and we had 

 6 couple of puppies out,— it was the bitch pack, and very well 

 they did. "Stargazer" carried me most brilliantly. 



November 29th. A capital day, running a nine-mile point in 

 55 minutes ; we must have gone at least eleven. 



i860. 

 January loth. Eleven-and-half mile point as the crow flies in 

 I hour 30 minutes. Prior's Coppice to Billesdon Coplow. 



Januar}' 12th. A fourteen-mile point in i hour 45 minutes from the 

 Keythorpe Plantation, through Hallaton Wood, Goadby, 



