YORKSHIRE 291 



be sure, in the dialect of his country, liut looking very much like a 

 sportsman. 



There was a very large field of sportsmen assembled on this day 

 — amounting to at least one hundred, which is a very unusual 

 circumstance with this pack. Mr. Lambton's hounds, however, 

 were gone from Sedgefield, and Lord Darlington's were a long way 

 off; so it was supplied by the gentlemen of those Hunts, many of 

 whom had come a long distance for the occasion. 



We proceeded to draw Dinsdale Wood, a covert of some size, and 

 situated on a steep hanging l^ank. Before throwing in his hounds, 

 Mr. Wilkinson did me the honour to ask me to accompany him into 

 the wood, and see him find his fox. This invitation I readily 

 accepted, and so far I was much gratified. He found his fox 

 almost instantly, and in very excellent style. His halloos were 

 very capital, and his ear unusually quick. This was not all. We 

 had a very baffling fox on foot — very unwilling to break — and his 

 turns were short and frequent. The pack and their master, how- 

 ever, were quite a match for him, and for about five minutes, the 

 scene — witnessed only by ourselves — was enchanting. "Have at 

 him. Music, good bitch!" halloo'd Matty. "By G — d! th' ast 

 better gang away, for thou'lt die if thou don't. Have at him again, 

 Cruiser, old fellow ! but thou'lt have his head in thy mouth before 

 neight." '■' Oh! that I could give his view-halloos on paper! but 

 that can't be done. They were enough to raise a man from the 

 dead ! 



The bad part of the story is now to come. Sportsman-like, Mr. 

 W^ilkinson wished to see his hounds get well away with their fox, 

 and therefore stood still and blew his horn ; but he should have ridden 

 on, and bloioii his horn; for when we got to the top of the covert, 

 not a hound, except the few that were with us, could we get sight of. 

 "I know where they are gone," said Mr. Wilkinson; "you must 

 follow me, for we shall never get over that stell."t I did follow 

 him, and he took me to an awkward ford ; but we might just as 

 well have gone around by York. The hounds had a capital run of 



* Mr. Wilkinson told me, that last season his hounds ran a fox twelve miles 

 in the dark, and killed him, and Cruiser brought his head home to him at night. 

 f Anglice, a brook. 



