CHARBOEOUGII PARK. 221 



Miss Drax), " was famed above all other places for 

 its variety of sporting attractions." I have no hesi- 

 tation in asserting that, excepting Heron Court, 

 Lord Malmsbury's seat, Charborough Park, is the 

 best place for all sorts of sport I ever saw. In fact, 

 Charborough by its variety surpasses Heron Court, 

 in having excellent trout fishing, and red and fallow 

 deer, fox-hunting and coursing, as well as, with good 

 management, the best of wild-fowl shooting. So 

 extensive are the wilds of Charborough, that the 

 wild-fowl for the gun do not interfere with the fowl 

 of the decoy ; on the contrary, the gun, by driving 

 to the decoy, assists in its return. I did, literally 

 speaking, sit on that wild moor by the side of the 

 decoy one day when the hounds met there ; for, on 

 reaching carelessly out of my saddle to shake an 

 acquaintance by the hand, between the grasp, my 

 own carelessness, and the design of my horse Brock, 

 I was let into the heather. I say, that to sit and 

 see the hounds splash through the water to draw 

 the immense bog around the decoy for a fox, the 

 air darkened with teal chiefly, mingled with other 

 fowl, and black game and snipes getting up all round 

 you, is a delight in itself, without the merry chal- 

 lenge from hound to hound as on the line of the 

 fox they spring from hag to hag. The Charborough 

 decoy is a sure find, and then a certain scurry over 

 the short heather. But to return ; my present then^ic 

 is Berkeley Castle. 



As I have stated, the hunting establishment at 

 Berkeley Castle is on the most ample and perfect 

 footing ; and, without fearing a charge of being pre- 

 disposed to the castle-bred hounds, I assert, that I 

 would sooner have one pup[)y thence than three from 



