MR. HENRY BODEN. U9 



Like the gentleman quoted above, Mr. Boden would 

 say— 



" Of lengthy runs let slow ones prate, 

 Of foxes kDled by light of moon ; 

 Give me the sharp and rapid rate, 

 The burst that takes me home by noon." 



Not that the last line is quite appropriate, for no day is 

 too long for him, but he prefers a short, sharp burst to 

 a long hunting run. Probably, in a lengthy experience, 

 no run has such pleasant memories for him as a regular 

 helter-skelter from White's Wood, Brailsford, about forty 

 years ago. There are not many alive now who remember 

 it, but those who do say that Mr. Boden had it all to 

 himself, and hounds fairly flew. It was on a Tuesday 

 early in November, after a meet at Kedleston, and the 

 few who remained out induced Tom to draw the covert 

 in question. Not thinking they were likely to find, he 

 threw his hounds into covert, though it was getting late. 

 They found, and away they went. Mr. Boden was riding 

 Dinah, a little blood mare, and he fairly sent her along 

 for all she was worth. There was no time to open a gate ; 

 the brook, in its serpentine windings, seemed to be always 

 throwing itself in the way, as they raced along it, towards 

 Sutton Gorse. Alone with hounds, and going that pace, 

 it is no time for '* peeping," and you cannot well take a 

 leisurely view of the situation, so it is not surprising that 

 the little mare was asked to jump it each time hounds 

 crossed it. Just before they reached Sutton Gorse Jack 

 Leedham, who had come best pace by the road, saw Mr. 

 Boden clear a scaffolding pole nailed to the top of two 

 gate-posts. It was a desperate jump, after coming between 

 five and six miles at racing pace, and Jack used to talk of 

 it to his dying day. A noble lord oftered four hundred 

 pounds for the mare, but nothing under a "monkey" 

 would tempt her owner, and the pair were not parted. 



Donna Maria was another good one, and pretty nearly 

 invincible at the Midland meetings ; so was Clansman, a 

 three-hundred-guinea one, which came from Mr. Arthur 



