178 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1891 



gallop from Hell Meadows with an old fox on October 3rd. 

 They ran very fast for fifteen minutes to ground in 

 Parkers pit-hole at Burnaston. The fences were, of 

 course, very blind, and no one was with hounds except 

 Mr. Dudley Fox, Mr. "Bertie" Crompton, Mr. Fort- 

 riding a four-year-old — Mr. Frank Newton, and Mr. 

 *' Chev" Bateman. 



The latter was a capital, cheery comrade, went well, 

 and had hosts of friends ; in fact, he was one of those men 

 whom every one liked. Though devoted to sport, he was 

 a great lover of books, and was never happier than when 

 poring over some deep volume in the solitude of his room. 

 To every one's great regret he died, when still quite a 

 young man, on October 26th, 1896. 



Sport was only moderate up to Christmas, and there 

 was very little frost. Of course they had a good day 

 or two, but nothing worth recording. On December 10th 

 they ran pretty well for two hours on the Kedleston 

 side. Mr. Fort had a very bad fall, and had to go to 

 Mr. Walter Boden's house to be attended to, and could not 

 go out hunting again for some time. 



In the new year, 1892, January 6th was a good day 

 in one sense of the word, but not in another, for the 

 weather was very bad, sleet, snow, and frost, and there 

 were only about a dozen people out. Hounds came to 

 Hampstall Ridware on this day (a Wednesday) because it 

 had not been possible to hunt on the previous day. They 

 found at once in a rough hedgerow on Mr. Jaggard's farm 

 and ran to Rough Park, where they slipped everybody. 

 It was supposed that they went straight through the low^er 

 end, and so on to Wichnor, where the field caught them. 

 They did not go into Wichnor, but turned to the left and 

 ran by Longcroft, by Yoxall Lodge, right through Braken- 

 hurst, and then left-handed back by Woodmill near Yoxall 

 Bridge, where all trace of the fox was lost. Then they 

 went back to Rough Park, and drew it blank, but found 

 another fox on Mr. Jaggard's farm, ran him into Rough 

 Park, and down to the bridge over the Blythe into 



