304 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



Druid, whom we afterwards christened '* the Listener," for a fine run. 

 We went well away with our fox ; but no sooner had the hounds settled 

 to him, and were carrying a right good head, than we came to a large 

 morass, and our huntsman ordered them to be stopped. On my men- 

 tioning this unlucky event to Williamson, he said, '' I differ with his 

 lordship on this point; I would not have stopped my hounds, and for this 

 reason : foxes seldom run far on a morass ; they dont like it, for they 

 soon find hounds have an advantage over them, on that kind of ground." 

 We found a second fox ; had a very sharp quarter of an hour to ground ; 

 bolted and killed him. I rode a grey horse called Skim, out of his 

 lordship's own stable, and ridden by him in the South —reckoned, I 

 believe, the quickest in the whole stud, and apparently thorough-bred. 



In the first of these short bursts, I rode over a kind of ground that I 

 had never ridden over before. It was planted with fir trees, far enough 

 apart not to interrupt speed, but abounding with large hillocks, as high 

 as a horse's knees, which might be said to 



'* Peep like moss-grown rocks, half seen, 

 Half hidden, with the copse so green j" 



but still of that yielding nature, from the vegetable stuff of which they were 

 composed, and not like those in Tilton field, in Lord Lonsdale's country, 

 which are nearly as hard as rock — that there is little danger to be ap- 

 prehended from a horse striking them. At least so it appeared; for Joe 

 Grant went at full speed through the cover, and I was bound to follow 

 him, not knowing the extent of it. No sooner were we out of it, and 

 well landed with the hounds, than the morass appeared in view, and 

 " Stop 'em, Joe," was the word of command. Barring the bog, an 

 excellent and roomy country was before us. 



