94 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1825 



was a seven and a half mile point, and at least thirteen 

 miles as hounds ran. 



On the 29th of January, on a very doubtful morning, 

 when it w^as too hard to hunt till one o'clock, they found 

 at Eaton Wood. From here they came away fast by 

 Marston Park across Darley Moor, by Edlastone, by 

 Blakeley Holt, through Shirley Park, by Bradley and 

 Hulland, but came to very cold hunting going for Breston, 

 and gave it up ; it was fast up to Shirley Park, but 

 towards the end it got much colder, and the ground 

 became so frozen that they could not make much of it. 

 As it was, they did not get home till eight o'clock. 



On the 31st January, Monday, they had a tremen- 

 dously hard day, running for five hours and ten minutes, 

 though by no means straight. To quote from the diary, 

 " they found in the woods and ran very hard to Locksley 

 and back to the woods, back again to Locksley, where we 

 changed our fox, back through the woods to Locksley 

 again, through Bramshall Park, almost to Beamlmrst by 

 Uttoxeter, almost to the Banks, turned again to Woodford 

 Kough, where the hounds viewed the fox two or three 

 times as he lay down in the hedgerows, but the horses 

 were all so tired that we could not kill him, as it was 

 quite dark — the hardest day I ever saw. I rode Sailor ; 

 Tom, Mr. Chadwick's Grey, dead tired ; Joe, Needwood, 

 nearly tired ; little Tom, roan mare, but he went to stop 

 some hounds, and went home." 



This was at least twenty-three miles, measured from 

 point to point. 



After such a day as this, it does not sound very 

 wonderful to run " from Brakenhurst by Foxall Lodge, 

 through Bannister's Rough to Tatenhill, through the Hen- 

 hurst, by Anslow, Stockley Park, near Stone's Gorse, by 

 Hanbury to Coton, almost to the river, across the road 

 to Draycott Mill, by Hound Hill, over the Dove, almost to 

 Doveridge, came back by Somersal to Sudbury Coppice," 

 where they whipped off in the dark. A note at the end 

 says, " Wilful and Joyful worked harder." 



