PllErACE 



The Editor was in.luced to undertake the compilation ot 

 the following Work from upwards of twenty-five years 

 experience of the difficulty that besets a Sportsman m 

 findlna the exa.'t locality of, and nearest route to, the 

 Fixtures, when inclined to visit a Hunt in which he is a 

 stranger and for the convenience also of those who are only 

 partially acquainted with the country in which they may ba 

 sojourning. The temptation to try the pace of other • 

 Hounds than those we have been accustomed to has not been 

 diminished by the development of Railways. On the 

 contrary, the facilities they offer to forward houses mto the 

 heart of the best Hunting Countries are readily accepted, 

 and to Railways is in some measure to be charged the 

 necessity of a Work of this nature. ^ 



Imagine a lover of the " Noble Science" fi-om the Nortii 

 established at his Imr in some terra incognita of the West. 

 He finds the Fixture of the day, and applies to those about 

 him for a description of the locality. Perhaps he gets it. 

 perhaps he does not, or he may succeed in realising only a 

 certain amount of information. With that he goes on hu 

 way but the description is so bad, and the directions so 

 devious and uncertain, that he soon doubts whether he is 

 pursuing the nearest route, and lost time, and lost temper. 



