THE VINE COUNTRY 201 



hounds when Sir John Cope hunted the greater portion 

 of the country in which the Strathfield&aye estates were 

 situated, and met at the gallant Duke's seat. This 

 may be readily answered. Sir John Cope did not 

 receive or require any subscription, which after Mr. 

 Chute's death the Vine did. 



The foxes being well preserved, this country admits 

 of being hunted four days in the week. It may be 

 divided into two districts, the woodland and the hills, 

 or rather the open, for there are but few hills in it. The 

 woodlands are, in my humble opinion, the most un- 

 suitable for fox-hunting of anything that can be con- 

 ceived, albeit there are those who delight in them. 

 They are so disposed that the coverts are not only 

 numerous but extensive, and the hedgerows are so very 

 wide that to see hounds from the time they are put 

 into covert till the time they kill or lose their fox is 

 rarely practicable. The flints, in some parts, are very 

 numerous, and often productive of accidents. During 

 the three years I hunted in this country I had six 

 horses, three of which met with bad accidents in conse- 

 quence of the flints. One, jumping into a road where 

 there were many loose ones, slipped down and cut his 

 knees. Another horse tore his shoe off and lacerated 

 his foot severely, from the shoe becoming locked, as it 

 were, with a large flint embedded in the earth. The 

 third horse cut his hind fetlock in a shocking manner in 

 galloping over a flinty field. He divided an artery, and 

 the hemorrhage was frightful ; but getting him to a 

 farm-house, binding it up tightly, and applying a 

 ligature round the leg, he recovered. 



The quickest run I saw with the Vine hounds 

 during my residence in Hampshire was on the 20th of 

 January, 1849, on which day they met at Nuthanger. 

 They drew Fro Park, where they soon found, and the 

 fox broke in the direction of Kingclere, but turned to 

 the right over the vale, upwind to Sidmonton Down, 

 which is rather a severe hill; at all events it proved so 

 on this occasion, both to hounds and horses. Such a 



