174 LIFE OF MYTTON. 



These were the best days of the Tomkinsons, the 

 Gleggs, the Brookes, Jack Forcl, and sundry other 

 first-flight Cheshire men, so that it may be imagined 

 that a spirit of rivalry amongst men would accom- 

 pany the trial of speed in hounds, and that Mytton 

 would be amongst the foremost to distinguish him- 

 self. That he came prepared to do so was evident 

 by the fact of his having had the famous Hit-or-Miss 

 mare reserved for this particular occasion, orders 

 having- been given to his crroom to " have her right 

 fit to go ; " while he mounted Captain Owen, of 

 Woodhouse, on the Devil. 



Precisely at the hour of twelve the business of the 

 day commenced; the " United" packs were thrown 

 into what is called the Big Wood, in Shavington 

 Park, from which a fox almost immediately broke, 

 and, having stood before them for thirty minutes, 

 at a very severe pace, was lost near the village of 

 Cloverly. Mytton very soon got the lead, and very 

 soon lost it, and nearly his life at the same time ; for 

 coming to a deep sunk fence, or ha-ha, at which 

 there was a high and stiff rail, on the rising side, he 

 halloed out, 



" Now for the honour of Shropshire ! " 

 And gallantly charged it. This challenge, as it were, 



