FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 141 



At Rokeby also, that romantic spot beloved 

 of Walter Scott : 



" 'Twas a fair scene. The sunbeam lay 

 On battled tower and portal grey : 

 And from the grassy slope he sees 

 The Greta flow to meet the Tees ; 

 Where, issuing from her darksome bed, 

 She caught the morning's eastern red, 

 And through the softening vale below 

 Roird her bright waves in rosy glow." 



How often did I visit there in the time of 

 Robert Ambrose Morritt, that humorous and 

 vivacious Squire whose retentive memory and 

 fund of anecdote rendered him a delightful 

 companion and the best of company. 



One word more about the old Raby Hounds. 

 On reflection it seems a sad pity that an historic 

 pack, hunted by such a celebrated sportsman as 

 Lord Darlington for over fifty years, should have 

 been dispersed to the winds by auction two or 

 three years before he died in 1842. Where are 

 the descendants nowadays of that once splendid 

 pack ? 



One might almost as well ask what has become 

 of Osbaldeston's noted blood, and where, indeed, 

 are the descendants of his famous Furrier ? 



Sometimes we find in the present day that 

 the celebrity of a distinguished M.F.H. hardly 

 survives even his own lifetime. 



