YORKSHIRE 245 



Setting aside the attractions I have already enumerated, losing 

 sight of his rank and other adventitious circumstances, I met Lord 

 Darlington greatly prepossessed in his favour. " I have known 

 Lord Darlington," said Sir Bellingham, over our claret on the 

 evening preceding, " from my earliest years, and have a very great 

 regard for him. There is one thing — his jmssion for fox-hunting — 

 we must all esteem him for ; and, when we go to visit him, I think 

 you will find him a most excellent companion, and one of the hest 

 bred men in the world." 



During Sir Bellingham Graham's absence from Yorkshire, he had 

 not been unmindful of his countrymen, and the foxes on his property 

 had been well preserved. We drew a beautiful whin of his this day 

 (in the North " gorse" is termed " whin "), of ten acres, just then in 

 its prime. After working at him for thirty-five minutes, a fine young 

 fox was killed ; and when the hounds had eaten him, and he had 

 taken them a little turn to recover their wind, his Lordship put them 

 into the whin again. Another fox went gallantly away over a 

 very pretty country ; but being so unfortunate as to change in one 

 of Sir Bellingham's woods, where our hunted fox was headed, the 

 fresh fox took a worse line, and went to ground in Tanfield Park. 

 However, we had an hour and five minutes, and marked our fox ; 

 so there was no reason to complain, I made an observation, that I 

 never saw any hounds draw strong gorse as Lord Darlington's did 

 on this day, and indeed it was the same throughout the season. 

 But it is their trade ; they have scarcely any other coverts to draw ; 

 and they are almost ahcays sure of a fox — a grand security against 

 slack drawing. 



When the hounds were first thrown into Sir Bellingham's whin, 

 I observed the Baronet getting rather fidgety at their not finding 

 immediately — it being the first time any covert of his had been tried 

 since his return to Yorkshire ; and he afterwards told me, that, if 

 there had not been a brace of foxes in it, he should have instantly 

 discharged his keepers ; but, fortunately for thern, it held a leash. 



It is somewhat remarkable that our second fox this day tried 

 the earths under the kennel at Norton Conyers, which earths were 

 constantly used when Sir Bellingham hunted the Badsworth country, 

 and kept his hounds in it during the summer months. 



