78 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1822 



Tom was not able to come out on two consecutive days 

 in January, and the master rode his horses, Patriot and 

 Fanny, but does not say who carried the horn. Fanny 

 may have learned her trade by this time, as the first day 

 Tom rode her in the Walton country she gave him two 

 falls, and got cast in a ditch to boot. The late Squire 

 Drake, Master of the Bicester, seldom, if ever, gave more 

 than forty pounds for his horses, and if any of the men 

 complained of one of the mounts, he used to say, " Oh, I 

 dare say he'll do for me ! " and would cheerfully ride him 

 himself, and, when he rode them, they had to go where 

 the hounds went. Whether Mr. Meynell would quite go 

 this length is doubtful, but at any rate what was good 

 enough for his huntsman was good enough for him. He 

 seemed to have liked Fanny, for he always rode her him- 

 self after this. They did not kill on the first of the two 

 days, and had bad luck on the second, for Dauntless had 

 hold of the fox by Dunstall, but let him go again, and 

 he got to OTound. 



On Saturday, March 9th, they met at Black Slough, 

 and it was a grand scenting day, with a drizzling rain. 

 Towards evening they found a brace at Rangemore, and 

 hounds divided. Joe had a splitting fifty minutes with 

 one lot, and caught his fox, while hounds ran clean away 

 from the squire and Tom and the field, and killed by 

 themselves somewhere near Rangemore dingle. Mr. Chad- 

 wick staked his horse. 



The last day of the season, April 12th, must have 

 been a bad one indeed as regards the weather, for the 

 master stopped at home on account of it, when the hounds 

 went to Wootton, and he missed a good hunt, for they 

 " found below Ellaston, ran by Clownam, Marston Park, 

 Cubley, over the limekilns, Snelston, and killed in 

 Norbury." 



Killed, nineteen brace ; to ground, nine and a half 

 brace ; lost, twenty-eight brace ; blank days, one. 



