BeIvVOir Hunt. 35 



forbidding and the prospects of a run 

 equally unpromising. Though the country 

 abounded with foxes we could not find them, 

 and it was surmised, probably with truth, that 

 the inclemency of the weather had driven them 

 to their earths. Murmurings of a blank day, 

 and rain coming down in torrents, drove most 

 of the field home drenched to the skin. How- 

 ever, when we got to Belton Gorse, which lay 

 in a hollow and afforded better shelter, a fox 

 was dislodged, who took a course for Belvoir, 

 but after passing Barrowby Thorns, scent was 

 very bad, and hounds got on the line of a hare. 

 Remarking to Goodall that I thought they 

 were running a hare, '^ Be quiet," cried Will, not 

 wishing to re-cheat them, '^ It's about time we 

 ran something." But we did little beyond saving 

 a blank day. A severe and protracted run took 

 place in the late Duke of Rutland's time from 

 Gotham Thorns, which is reported to have 

 occupied four hours. The fi)x at first went 

 away for the river Trent, and after covering an 

 immense district of country, was eventually 

 killed in Bennington Fen. It was nearly dark 

 at the time, and the duke and Goodall had a 

 tedious ride home on tired horses, not reaching 

 Belvoir till people in the villages through 



