DIFFICULTIES IN THE HARROW VALE 51 



assaults took place. In those days I did not care much for any 

 persona] interruption, but the farmers adopted a nasty plan of 

 serving me, in the first place, with a notice not to trespass, and 

 then, estimating among themselves the amount of damage, " Pay 

 us," they said, " or stand an action at law." I remember riding 

 over to one of their houses, and pointing out to them the exorbi- 

 tant nature of their demand, at the same time showing that, for 

 a quarter of their charge, I could hire a man or men to tread in 

 every horse-print on the land, and at the same time purchase 

 stakes and thorns to mend the gaps. The ridiculous reply to 

 this was, " that treading in the steps of the horses would not 

 suffice ; each footstep must be filled in with a composition of 

 manure and mould." I had nothing left for it but to pay, or 

 the country would have been closed against us. To take the 

 burthen off my shoulders, the gentlemen who hunted with me 

 raised a public fund for damage. Kindly intended as it was, it 

 only made matters ten times worse ; for then all those who, out 

 of consideration for me individually, refrained from complaining, 

 at once made a rush at the public money, and the whole line of 

 country after a run sent in its bill. The farmers also adopted 

 another plan of catching any gentleman they could come up 

 with, and making them pay for their liberty. Horses were 

 pounded, and gentlemen have sat on the rails bargaining for 

 their freedom. The late Mr. Fermor, as quiet and good-natured 

 a soul as ever hunted, was riding the line as usual he never 

 rode hard in my remembrance in a very good run over the 

 Harrow Vale, and, according to custom, was the last in the field. 

 His person had become known to the farmers in the vicinity 

 which we were passing, and, the moment he came over the gap 

 in the fence that the craners and line riders of a large field had 

 made, the farmer stuck his fork into a bush and altered the look 

 of the gap ; at the same time that he did this, one of his men 

 either stopped all egress to Mr. Fermor with another bush, or 

 stood there to prevent his going. The farmer and two or three 

 other persons then began to chase their foe round the field. 

 Headed at the gap to go out by, Fermor returned to the place 



