94 THE WILLEY LONG RUNS. 



favourite hound of tlie Squire's, just a hundred 

 years ago. 



Dibdin, in his song of Tom Moody, speaks of " a 

 country well known to him fifty miles round;" 

 and this was no mere figure of speech, as the hunt- 

 ing ground of the Willey Squire extended over the 

 greater part of the forest lands we have described. 

 There were fewer packs of hounds in Shropshire 

 then, and the Squire had a clear field extending 

 from the Clee Hills to the Needle's Eye on the 

 Wrekin, through which, on one remarkable occa- 

 sion, the hounds are reported to have followed their 

 fox. The Squire sometimes went beyond these 

 notable landmarks, the day never appearing to be 

 too long for him. 



Four o'clock on a hunting morning usually found 

 him preparing the inner man with a breakfast of 

 underdone beef, with eggs beaten up in brandy to 

 fill the interstices ; and thus fortified he was ready 

 for a fifty miles run. He was what Nimrod would 

 have called, '' a good rough rider " over the stiff 

 Shropshire clays, and he generally managed to keep 

 up with the best to the last ; 



*' Nicking and craning he deemed a crime, 

 And nobody rode harder perhaps in his time." 



