102 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



Yarm. Our road to Croft also led us through 

 the village of Hurworth, within a short distance 

 of the Hurworth Kennel, and we overtook the 

 hounds going to covert. They were accompanied 

 only by Mr. Wilkinson and his whipper-in, and 

 Mr. Flounders took this opportunity of intro- 

 ducing me to Mr. Wilkinson. I found him very 

 much what I expected to find him : a well-fed 

 Englishman, with a back as broad as those of 

 three of our dandies put together ; mounted on a 

 finely shaped chestnut horse, looking very like a 

 hunter to carry a heavy seventeen stone, which 

 he had then on his back ; with a keen eye in his 

 head, and a very intelligent countenance — strong, 

 to be sure, in the dialect of his county, but 

 looking very much like a sportsman, and there- 

 fore claiming my respect. 



'' There was a very large field of sportsmen 

 assembled at Croft Bridge on this day — amount- 

 ing to at least one hundred, which is a very 

 unusual circumstance with this pack. Mr. 

 Lambton's hounds, however, were gone from 

 Sedgefield, and Lord Darlington's were a long 

 way off ; so it was supplied by the gentlemen of 

 those hunts, many of whom had come a long 

 distance for the occasion. I am happy to add, 

 some of them were well requited for their pains. 



*' We proceeded to draw Dinsdale Wood, a 

 covert of some size and situated on a steep 

 hanging bank. Before throwing in his hounds, 

 Mr. Wilkinson did me the honour of asking me to 

 accompany him into the wood and see him find 



