NIMEOD'S 



HUNTING TOUES 



LEICESTERSHIRE 



Leicestershire may justly be denominated the Montpelier of 

 hunting countries : in the eye of a sportsman it is the Vale of 

 Cashmere, and in comparison with it all others retire longo iiitcrvallo. 



Both nature and art have contributed to render Leicestershire > 

 the country for fox-hunting. To the former, it is indebted for the 

 depth and richness of its soil — favourable to holding a scent ; and 

 to the latter, for the large size of its enclosures, for the general 

 practicability of its fences, for the greatest portion of the land being 

 old pasture, and for the numerous gorse coverts made for the 

 purpose of breeding and preserving foxes. , 



There is another circumstance also which gives Leicestershire a 

 decided advantage over other countries ; and that is, the few Icmje 

 coverts which the better part of it contains, thereby affording such 

 room for sport, that if a fox once gets away, and is a good one, a run 

 (barring accidents) must be the consequence. He has nowhere to 

 hide his head — he must fly for his life. Woodland foxes are gene- 

 rally supposed to be l^etter and stouter than those bred aljove ground ; 

 but every one who has hunted in large coverts must be aware what 

 an advantage both hounds and horses must have by coming away at 

 once with a fox from a small piece of gorse, over those which may 

 have been, perhaps, three or four times up and down a large covert, 

 where the hounds have had to contend with strong underwood, and 

 the horses with deep and boggy ridings, to say nothing of the 



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