Mr. Wardes Hounds. 99 



and would be running hard on days when the larger 

 pack would be hunting slowly far behind him. Mr. 

 Warde's field, however, was the place in which a 

 young sportsman could best learn the rules and prin- 

 ciples of hunting. I acquired more knowledge of the 

 science in two or three seasons with him, than I should 

 have gained by hunting all my life with Mr. Chute. 



I have observed that foxes in the Craven country 

 were apt to be short runners. This is to be ac- 

 counted for, partly by the number and size of the 

 woods, partly by the favourable circumstance that 

 many proprietors, who were great game preservers, 

 were also preservers of foxes, and suffered many 

 litters to be bred in places where they could find 

 plenty of food close at hand ; but, perhaps, the chief 

 cause of the evil was the abundance of earths. I am 

 writing of forty years ago, and things may be dif- 

 ferent now. Indeed, I know that when Mr. Thomas 

 Smith had the country, he dug out and destroyed as 

 many earths as he could on purpose to correct this 

 evil. But even in my days, some of the longest and 

 straightest runs that I ever saw were in the Craven 

 country. I am tempted to give an account of one 

 which, for variety of country and abundance of inci- 

 dent, was the most remarkable that I was ever in. 



The fox was found at a small cover called Water- 

 man's, between Hampstead Park and Woodhay. 

 Soon after he had been found, he was viewed by 

 several persons, and was observed to have only half a 

 brush. As it was the first hunting day after a fall of 

 snow, the vale was particularly wet and deep ; and we 

 had about forty minutes of it, at a good pace, before 

 we reached the bottom of the Coombe Hills. These 



H 2 



