FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 117 



I got George Tongue from Earl Ferrers in his 

 place, and he turned out a most useful fellow ; 

 nowadays he is huntsman to the Essex Union 

 Hunt. 



While with the Hurworth I had nothing 

 but grey horses both for myself and the servants. 

 Some people seem to think it such a difficult 

 matter to collect a lot of hunters of one colour. 

 I never could see why. Perhaps there might 

 be a difficulty sometimes in providing the money 

 to pay for them, but to find horses of the right 

 colour was easy enough. 



The Hurworth is bounded on the north by 

 the South Durham ; on the west by Lord Zetland 

 and the Bedale ; on the east by the Cleveland. 



A vale of stiff clay with a certain amount 

 of plough, but plenty of grass, especially in the 

 Northallerton district, and on the whole I should 

 call it a better scenting country than some of 

 its neighbours. The Tees, the Leven, and the 

 Wiske intersect the district, and although these 

 rivers were no serious obstacle to the fox and 

 a pack of hounds, they sometimes proved an 

 impediment to those who followed the chase. 



In my time there were some capital gorse 

 coverts, notably, Fighting Cocks, Elton, and 

 Farrer's Whin on the Durham side ; then south of 

 the Tees there were famous gorses at Welbury, 



