6o Recollectio7is of the Vine Hunt. 



that, though nothing was done with the Blackwood fox, 

 yet that same day ended with a fast forty minutes, 

 and a kill in the open. 



The only whipper-in of whom I have anything to 

 record was a good-humoured broad-shouldered fellow 

 known to us only by the nickname of Pop, which he 

 had inherited from his father, a veteran post-boy at 

 Overton. Pop had been huntsman to a powerful 

 pack of harriers kept by Mr. Twinam at Whitchurch, 

 which used to go very fast over the open country be- 

 tween that town and Winchester Race-course. Pop, 

 however, occupied a higher position after leaving the 

 Vine, for he became huntsman to Mr. Charles Craven, 

 of Brighton, who was master of the foxhounds then 

 called the East Sussex, but now the Southdown ; the 

 title of East Sussex being transferred to another 

 pack occupying a country between Eastbourne and 

 Hastings. Mr. Craven was an excellent sportsman, 

 and a patient and considerate master, and under his 

 guidance Pop became a very fair huntsman. When 

 he rose to this dignity, his nickname dropped from 

 him, and he became known by his proper appellation 

 of George Hennessey. Being inland bred, he never 

 could clearly comprehend the law of tides. On one 

 occasion, when the day's sport had ended under the 

 Newhaven cliffs, George proposed to go home along 

 the beach, by a track passable only at low water. 

 Lord Gage — who knew most things, whether by land 

 or sea, in that country — expressed some doubt as 

 to the state of the tide. ' Well, my Lord,' replied 

 George, ' I fancy the tide generally is out about this 

 time of day.' 



And now I must try to recall the principal persons 



