202 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1894 



We now saw noiliinp; but small fields, surrounded by limestone walls, most of 

 them seven quarters (5 ft. 3 in.) high. As hounds faced the still rising ground 

 we found ourselves looking round to see who would give a lead over the first 

 wall. The fall of a loose coping stone made it look a little less uninviting, and 

 most of the horses flew it as if it had been timber. The pace Avas too good for 

 " craning," and, with just a little picking of places, the walls were taken as they 

 came for a straight line of six miles further from our starting-point, by the left of 

 Pike Hall, on to " Haven " House (Newhaven), and running parallel with the 

 Buxton road on to the Jug and Glass, thirteen hundred feet above the sea level. 

 Here the fox crossed the main road and High Peak Railway, running nearly to 

 Bunker's Hill and Parsley Hay. We began to think we should soon be in sight of 

 Buxton, which was only nine miles distant, but the pace and time at last told 

 on this stout fox, as it had done on our horses. 



Before he reached Bunker's Hill, on to what was once Middleton Common, 

 he swung to the right, and along a length of very pretty dale, which I think must 

 be the top end of ^liddleton Dale. Leaving Youlgreave two miles on our left, he 

 pointed for Winster, but turned again towards Newhaven, and we had to face 

 another steep rise. Only the ladies kept their saddles, the men climbing at the 

 side of their horses. As he turned back to Middleton Common, he was frequently 

 seen just in front of hounds, and apparently dead beat, but he managed to beat 

 US after a run of exactly three hours. After leaving Brassington, every wall had 

 at least six inches of snow at the foot, on one side, or both, and it balled horribly. 

 The snow was a great help to the fox, which invariably chose the highest place 

 to climb over a wall ; and on landing very frequently ran along the side in deep 

 snow. Hounds were not so used to wall-climbing, and often lost a few valuable 

 seconds by the sudden turns along the wall sides. There cannot be a doubt that 

 the snow saved him. From Bradley Bottoms to the Jug and Glass measures 

 upwards of thirteen miles on the map in a straight line, but, allowing for ups and 

 •lowns, the two points are some sixteen miles distant. I counted four ladies and 

 thirty horsemen up at end of the run, every one of whom must have jumped at 

 least fifty stone walls since we left Brassington. Some of the remnant admitted 

 they would have left before the end, but they didn't know where they were, nor 

 how to get back to " England ! " Hounds were twenty-two miles as the crow 

 flies from kennels. Mr. and Mrs. Fort, who, it is needless to say, were up, and 

 the sole representatives of Foston, must have had quite twenty-four miles home, 

 while the Derby contingent (reduced to three at the finish) were twenty-five miles 

 from home. Two of the latter rode the six miles to Bakewell in the vain hope 

 of finding a horse-box to rail on to Derby. Most of us trotted back to the 

 Haven, a noted coaching house with extensive stables, but not half large enough 

 for all who wanted to put up for a little while. Of course it is a moot point 

 whether we changed at Brassington Rocks. It seems scarcely possible for a fox 

 to keep going for three hours in front of the Meynell, with a seven-mile point in 

 forty-five minutes as a commencement ; and after leaving Brassington there was 

 some appearance of a double line. The distance travelled was enough to settle 

 two stout foxes, and though all thought that hounds had earned their reward, our 

 quarry certainly deserved to escape. Many of the horses will carry souvenirs of 

 the sharp-cutting stone walls, but comparatively few empty saddles were seen 

 during the day. 



R. W. 



As a postscript to the description of the remarkable run from Brailsford to the 

 Peak country, it will interest many to know how cleverly our fox escaped, where 



