VORKSIIIUE :3:30 



favourable to the nervous system ; but his nerves are equal to the 

 largest fence in Leicestershire, and for ixtcc, he is quite in the first 

 flight. 



Lord Alvanley's return to Melton Mowbray has been hailed as a 

 happy omen of perpetuating the renown of Leicestershire as a 

 hunting country. Whithersoever he goes, he must act as a magnet ; 

 for his presence and conversation may be compared to the Sun's 

 rays, which enliven every hour of the day ; and, as for the night — 



" Ho is so full of pleasant anecdote ; 

 So rich, so gay, so jJoignant is his wit ; 

 Time vanishes before him as he speaks, 

 And ruddy morning through tlie lattice peeps 

 Ei'e night seems well begun." 



His appearance and costume in the field also amused me much. 

 He wears what may be compaied to the Kegulation jack-boot of 

 the Eoyal Horse Guards Blue, the top of which reaches consider- 

 ably higher than the knee, and doubtless protects him from the 

 thorns and blows he would otherwise receive in cramming through 

 the rough Leicestershire fences, of which he is anything but shy. 



On Sunday the 8th, I left Quorn, and proceeded to London on 

 my road home, ordering my groom to make the best of his road to 

 Lyndhurst with my horses, to enable me to top up the season in the 

 Forest. 



Having now turned my back upon Yorkshire, I began to ruminate 

 upon what I had seen in it. Its character as a fox-hunting country 

 is comprised in a few words. It is, like all the provincials, too 

 close to enjoy hounds in, and subject to everlasting interruptions 

 from coverts, rivers, canals, and railroads. The ploughed land in 

 some parts may rather be termed rotten than deep — though, gene- 

 rally speaking, this is by no means its character — but in the Bedale 

 country the grass land is particularly sound and dry. The fences, 

 with the exception of the brooks, are such as do not so much put 

 to the test the spring and power of a hunter, as his temper and the 

 ready use of his legs ; but the finger of his rider is almost constantly 

 put to the trial. It is a country in which men who ride quickly 

 over it must get falls. 



For scent, I should say, Yorkshire is upon the whole favourable. 



