CHARTLEY. 137 



From the Devereux the property came to the 

 Shirleys, from them to the Townsends, and so to the 

 Ferrars. 



Apart from its historic interest, it is famous as the 

 home of the white cattle, akin to those at Chillingham, 

 and said to have been introduced by the Eomans. But 

 they are nothing like as wild as their kinsfolk in the 

 Cheviots, to judge, at least, by the Druid's description of 

 the latter, nor in the least dangerous. 



But it is, perhaps, after all as the home of the fox 

 that it interests us most. Rare runs there have been from 

 it after its good, wild foxes. Its gorse takes a lot of 

 drawing, and requires a bold hound to face it. You want 

 a pack of " Linkboys " to make it fairly shake on a bad 

 scenting morning, and no doubt many a fox has been left 

 there lying j^erdu in its bristly fastnesses. Then there is 

 the Moss, a grand, wild, natural covert, full of heath, and 

 good rough lying, but a place where a wild fox is apt to 

 be off before any one can get to the distant farther end to 

 view him away. It is a queer place to ride through, like 

 an Irish quaking bog, and woe betide the unwary rider 

 who gets off the right path. Many years ago a pack 

 of harriers was kept at Chartley, and some of these sank 

 into the bog and were never seen again, while more than 

 one rider has had cause to thank his stars that he did not 

 follow them, when his horse, with wild eye, distended 

 nostril, and heaving flanks, has, by a series of herculean 

 efforts, extricated himself from the clinging morass which 

 threatened to engulf them both. 



But the said Moss has brought us to the boundaries 

 of Blithfield, which of right claims a chapter to itself. Still 

 this account must not close without mention of two good 

 sportsmen, diametrically opposite one to the other, for 

 one is an out-and-out horseman, and the other an equally 

 enthusiastic houndsman. There was a time when, both 

 in Derbyshire and Leicestershire, Mr. Nuttall was always 

 in the front rank, and, given a horse he likes, and a good 

 start, he takes a good deal of catching to-day. If any one 



