1826] A KEDLESTON DAY. 109 



and fears began to be entertained that the favourite cover held no fox. I heard 

 some mutterings about returning to draw Kedleston Park, when a hound gave 

 tongue, another spoke, and another, and another. A view holloa was heard, 

 Renard was off, and the hounds went away close at his brush, and I confess I 

 never saw hounds go faster. We had not been running, however, more than five 

 minutes, if so much, when in going at a clipping pace along a narrow lane, 

 rendered very slippery by the frost, my mare's feet shot completely from under 

 her, and I, of course, measured my length on the ground. Several sportsmen 

 immediately behind me were more fortunate. The shoes of their horses were, I 

 apprehend, prepared for the frost, which unfortunately was not my case. They 

 passed along, not, however, without the customary inquiry, " Are you hurt, 

 sir ? " I answered in the negative, yet, though I had sustained little injury, 

 several minutes elapsed before I was able to mount, and the hounds ran with 

 such speed that I was not able to reach them again ; but I kept on, and was able 

 to follow the track by the marks of the horses' feet as well as what, for want of a 

 better term, I will call the wrecks of the chase. A few minutes brought me 

 in sight of a prostrate brother sportsman, who, I was glad to iind, had, like 

 myself, sustained no injury. As I progressed I continued to come up with dis- 

 mounted and beaten Nimrods ; some had lost their horses, and others their way, 

 and one gentleman appeared to have sustained a considerable injury in his side 

 from a fall. He was riding very slowly, and expressed himself apprehensive that 

 one or more of his ribs were fractured. At last I came in sight of the happy 

 chosen few, who had enjoyed the delights of the run. It had been a brilliant run 

 of thirty-eight minutes. The fox had taken shelter in a slough at Darley, a mile 

 and a half from the town of Derby. One of the whippers-in had been despatched 

 to Kedleston for a terrier. I waited a few minutes, but the genius of the chase 

 had forsaken me. The animal on which I rode had gone in fear all the time. 

 She was not properly shod for the slippery state of the ground. It was doubtful 

 if they would be able to bolt wily renard. Further, I thought Mr. Meynell did 

 not appear anxious to kill him, as foxes are scarce in Kedleston. Under all 

 these circumstances, therefore, I accompanied Mr. Statham to Derby, but I was 

 afterwards informed that they succeeded in getting the fox out, when he made 

 away for Kedleston, and there again taking shelter in a slough was suffered to 

 remain. 



Mr. Meynell's hounds were not very successful in the early part of the season, 

 but latterly they have been more fortunate. Of the last seven foxes which they 

 had ran up to January 3rd they had killed six, which is certainly more than the 

 general average. 



Mr. Meynell's hunt is extensive, and the Derby side seems to be at an incon- 

 venient distance from his residence, but such a circumstance is regarded as a 

 mere trifle by a true fox-hunter like Mr. Meynell, nor is the Derby country 

 reckoned the best. On the contrary, I was informed that Kedleston seldom 

 produced a good run. Tuesday, the 3rd, however, proved a brilliant exception. 

 The country on the other side of the river is in higher estimation. Calke 

 frequently produces a good run, and foxes from this place generally take the 

 direction of Ingleby or Foremark, which is a fine country, though there are some 

 ■extensive and strong covers from which a fox is not easily got away. This part 

 is what the sportsmen of Derby call the other side of the river, being situated on 

 the right bank of the Trent. Foremark, the patrimonial seat of the Burdett 

 family, is one of the many splendid mansions which ornaments the banks of tin's 

 river, but it has been somewhat neglected by its present proprietor, Sir Francis. 

 His grandfather, Sir Robert Burdett, kept an excellent pack of foxhounds at this 



