A RUN WITH THE ATHERSTONE 247 



some went to the right and others to the left, whilst a 

 portion of the field kept with the hounds, which were 

 pointing about midway between the arches, till they 

 arrived close to the railway, when they turned to the 

 right on land already foiled by the horses ; and more- 

 over, seeing so many a-head, they (the hounds) kept 

 on without ever speaking to the scent some distance. 

 On arriving at the arch, concluding the fox had gone 

 through, Thurlow made his cast under it, but could 

 not hit the scent. The fact was the fox on coming to 

 the railroad turned and ran parallel with it as already 

 mentioned ; but as the hounds had not been actually 

 hunting him for nearly half a mile it was impossible to 

 say exactly at what point they had left the scent. 

 Under such circumstances there was nothing to guide 

 the huntsman in his cast ; his only alternative was to 

 hold his hounds forward, still bearing to the right, 

 when at length he hit upon his fox again ; but so much 

 time had been lost that the scent failed considerably, 

 and a brilliant burst was lost. After much slow 

 hunting the hounds got up to their fox and killed him ; 

 yet the beauty of the day's sport was destroyed by 

 those ambitious, speculating gentlemen, who, not con- 

 tent with riding fairly to the hounds, by skirting got 

 before them in a most provoking manner. A skirting 

 horseman is as bad as a skirting hound, and both ought 

 to be drafted. I could mention many other instances 

 of a similar character, although none more decided ; 

 and this is quite sufficient to point out the mischief oc- 

 casioned by such inconsiderate and reckless riding. 



A sportsman accustomed to a provincial country, 

 where hounds enjoy plenty of room to do their work un- 

 molested by a crowd of horsemen, is surprised when he 

 visits a populous hunt to see the huntsman the moment 

 the hounds come to a check make a wide cast, and that 

 without giving the hounds time to make theirs ac- 

 cording to the orthodox rule of hunting ; and perchance 

 our provincial friend condemns the huntsman's prac- 

 tice; but on reflection it wUl often be found to be the 



