OXFORDSHIRE 17 



— the quick growing very strong in the fences, and in wet seasons it 

 is deep and heavy. He must also be an accompHshed fencer, as 

 there is much timber and a great many doubles ; neither must he be 

 afraid of water, as there are more brooks in the Bicester country 

 than in any other which I have ever ridden over, and which is evident 

 from the number of bridges on the turnpike roads. The river 

 Cherwell is only to be passed by a bird without swimming it, till you 

 get some distance above Banbury, and even there it is rarely 

 attempted with success. I saw it cleared by Mr. Newnham (late at 

 the head of the Worcestershire hounds, but for many years an 

 attendant on Sir Thomas's), Mr. Robert Canning, and a Mr. Bawcot, 

 a hard riding farmer in that neighbourhood. I was landed on the 

 bank, but it nearly cost me a good hunter. He fell back into the 

 river, and was carried down the stream for twenty yards, with 

 nothing but his hoofs to be seen before he could turn himself in the 

 water, and it was nearly half an hour before he could be got out. 

 As he was a fine brook leaper, I attribute his failure to his seeing 

 Mr. Best's horse swimming about verj'- near to him at the time. 



Great part of the Bicester country is very flat, which, in wet 

 seasons, is a great disadvantage to it, as it prevents the land flood 

 from passing off so quickly as it would do if there were a greater fall 

 in the larger rivers. It is often so much under water that hounds 

 cannot run over it at all ; and when cleared sufficiently for them, it 

 is very awkward for horses ; as when the ditches are full they 

 cannot see them, and many falls are the consequence. On the 

 whole, however, it is a good fox-hunting country, well preserved, 

 and calculated to try the stoutness of hounds and horses, as well as 

 the nerves of those who hunt in it. There is a common field, called 

 " Marsh-Gibbon Field," about three miles across, which, of all open 

 fields I ever rode over, is the most killing for horses, and it generally 

 holds a good scent. If horses are not well prepared, and fit to go, 

 they have no business there. 



That part of the country called the Brill country is very severe, 

 and the only one in which I ever saw one man kill two horses in two 

 successive days. On coming to a check the first day, I observed to 

 him that he would kill his horse if he persevered with him, as I saw 

 the distress he was in by a certain stare of his eye which cannot 



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