RIDING TO HOUNDS 361 



line''' of country for generations in succession ; but this is not to l)e 

 depended upon, neither is there much reliance to be placed upon 

 the wind. 1 remember telling an old and very good sportsman one 

 day in Leicestershire, that the wind would most probably take us 

 to his country ; when he observed, that by the time I had been a 

 fox-hunter as long as he had, I should learn to trust but little to the 

 wind. " A fox," said he, " will make his point in spite of the wind ; 

 and it is only when he finds himself pressed that he will cease to 

 face it." This I believe to be the case ; but one observation I have 

 made is, that when a fox starts up wind, and then turns, he seldom 

 faces it again. All they, how^ever, who consult the wind, and ride 

 to it, instead of to the hounds, will too often find themselves in a 

 wrong latitude. 



It is one of the drawbacks upon the pleasure of fox-hunting, that 

 a man sometimes rides twenty miles to meet hounds, and then loses 

 a tine run by not getting away with them. The rose, however, is 

 never without the thorn ; and this must sometimes happen in large 

 woodlands, whicli most commonly produce the best foxes. As foxes 

 generally hang a little in large coverts, the l:)est sportsman is often 

 puzzled how to act. If running down wind, it is difficult for him 

 to hear them. If he follows them up and down a deep covert often, 

 his horse is half beaten before the run begins. It is necessary 

 therefore to be wide awake upon these occasions ; and I have always 

 thought it to be the safer plan, when a man comes out determined 

 to have a day's sport, to keep as near to hounds in covert as it is 

 possible — even if he does take something out of his horse in doing 



* I have seen many instances of this at a covert called Alveston Pastures, 

 near Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire, a place which has afforded several 

 brilliant runs. Unless foxes break for Mr. West's coverts, they almost invariably 

 come away to Sir Charles Mordant's woods, beyond which is as fine a country as 

 any in England. To avoid sinking the hill, and a very bad brook, all those who 

 know the circumstance are in the habit of going along a road for about a mile, 

 whence they can command the hounds by the time they can settle to their fox. 

 On a particular day, however, when Lord Middleton hunted Warwickshire, I 

 remember Colonel Berkeley and his two brothers were out, when, not knowing 

 of this nick, they followed the hounds down the meadows, when, contrary to the 

 usual practice, the fox did not cross the brook, but turned short to the left, 

 down a fine vale, for Wellesburn, and the three brothers alone saw the run. 

 This was almost a solitary instance of a fox taking that direction. 



