26 



THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



Mr. John Corbet 

 1791-1811. 



Mr. Hawkes. 



His remark upon 

 Warwickshire 



A run 

 Walton. 



from 



Added to their superior horsemanship, their know- 

 ledge of the country helped to give them a chief place 

 in crossing it. They were admirable pilots, and when 

 a far-going fox had taken the field some distance, and 

 somewhat out of their latitude, the Cannings were 

 as good in bringing them home as they had been in 

 leading them there. 



Riding to hounds at this time came rapidly forward 

 as an art to be cultivated, and an acquisition much to 

 be desired. A contemporary with the Cannings, and 

 one who, with them, did not a little to advance the art, 

 was Mr. John Hawkes of Snitterfield. He was one 

 of the first to exemplify the superiority of thorough- 

 bred horses in the hunting field, if ridden with that 

 refined skill, for which he himself was famed. Not only 

 in Warwickshire, however, did he shine. Equally 

 conspicuous, and perhaps more so, was he in Mr. 

 Meynell's country. He was the author of a pamphlet 

 called *' The Meynellian Science of Foxhunting," As 

 rider and as sportsman he stood high. He did not, 

 however, confine his equestrian performances to the 

 field, but went in as well for racing. He rode in a 

 hunting cap, leather breeches, and boots, and looked 

 the sportsman. Although he had hunted much 

 with Mr. Meynell in Leicestershire, and said that that 

 country — then, as now, the fashionable hunting ground 

 — spoilt every other country, he afterwards lived and 

 hunted many years in Warwickshire. This country 

 ranked third at that time, Ai^iiog Northamptonshire the 

 place next to Leicestershire. As to whether this posi- 

 tion is maintained, I hope to have something more to 

 say before I have finished. Mr. Hawkes, however, used 

 to say there was not sufficient room in it to show a run. 

 One day, when he was out on his horse "Featherlegs," 

 Walton Wood was the draw and provided a fox which, 

 with only two momentary checks, took them over 

 Lighthorne, Long Itchington, and Upton to Watergall, 

 one-and-a-half miles from Soutbam, where he was 



