1862] HENRY MARTIN. 211 



It used to be the custom to have a day or two at the 

 end of the season on Cannock Chace, and people came 

 from far and near, as hunting there was so different to 

 what it is in other parts. It was a most picturesque 

 sight to see hounds drawing this wild tract of bracken, 

 ling, and heather, with every now and then a black cock 

 getting up at your horse's feet. But when they began to 

 run, it behoved a man to ride warily, as, though there 

 were no fences, there were pitfalls of one kind and an- 

 other to catch the unwary and rash. A wise man chose 

 for his pilot one of the Pagets, or Henry Martin, who was 

 head keeper at Beaudesert, and knew every yard of the 

 Chace. The latter was a capital sportsman, a hard rider, 

 and just as fond of hunting and preserving foxes as he 

 was of shooting and rearing pheasants. As a proof of his 

 care of foxes, it is a fact that there were thirty-seven 

 earths drawn out on the Chace and Beaudesert in one 

 season. His son, Albert, was second whipper-in to the 

 Meynell for some years. 



There is now too much wire-fencing on Cannock Chace 

 for the enjoyment of hunting over it, which is a sad pity. 



In this season of 1861-62 they killed twenty and a half 

 brace of foxes ; ran to ground six and a half ; blank days, 

 one ; hunting days, sixty-two. 



