SURREY 



The most disagreeable circumstance attending the Surrey Hills is 

 the flints, which in most places exceed in size and quantity those 

 met with in any other countries. They cut both hounds and horses, 

 the latter being frequently spoiled by them. It not unfrequently 

 happens that they divide the tendon of a horse's leg, so that on his 

 rider dismounting, he finds his toe turning upwards ! He is of 

 course ever after useless. This accounts for no large prices beincr 

 given for hunters in Surrey — about 200 guineas being the top of the 

 tree. Were I to hunt constantly in it, I should prefer stallions or 

 mares, as they would be of some use after such an accident had 

 happened to them. 



There is, however, a chain of woodlands through all that part 

 called " the Hills," too inviting for a fox to quit for a country of 

 which he can have little knowledge, and where he would not be 

 likely to be very well received. 



The hounds at the time I am writing (1823) are under the manage- 

 ment of Mr. Haigh, who resides at Furze Down near Streatham. 

 He has been a sportsman, and report says a good one, for many 

 years. 



In all hunting countries there is a particular character to be found 

 which attracts the notice of strangers, and this is the case in Surrey. 

 I allude to the "veteran" Cochran, who, having passed the grand 

 climacteric, had this epithet applied to him two winters ago, in an 

 account of a run with Lord Derby's stag-hounds, wherein he had 

 distinguished himself. 



Mr. Cochran is a very wonderful man. He is supposed to be 

 upwards of seventy years of age, and though time has " silvered 

 o'er his locks," he is still fresh and vigorous, possessing extraordinary 



