THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



53 



Lord Middleton 

 1811-1821. 



the ground, he kept the hounds together and led 

 them home. What country they took, or exactly 

 where they killed, no one could tell, as most of the 

 field had ridden miles out of their way, and never 

 seen the hounds from the time they were thrown into 

 covert. 



About the same period another Farnborough fox gave A ringing fox. 

 a day's sport of a severe nature, which, had he been a 

 straight running animal, would have given us another 

 extensive geographical description to record. After 

 several rings about the covert he shot away for the 

 New Inn, Wroxton, and then turned back to Hornton, 

 where he ran three or four more rings, and, after being 

 got away again, was turned up near to Edgehill. This 

 does not seem'much'to chronicle but the fox was ringing 

 for at least three hours without more than three or four 

 checks. The ground covered was at least twenty 

 miles and all the horses'were beaten. Indeed, out of a 

 large field, there were not more than half a dozen at the 

 death. Mr. Morant Gale, as might be expected, tired 

 his horse, No-Pretender, a favourite and famous old 

 hunter, and he died soon afterwards. Mr. Lawley 

 (afterwards Sir Francis Lawley) also beat his horse. 

 He jumped off his back, when he could get him no 

 further, left him standing in a field near Hornton, 

 and ran on foot to the place where the fox was killed. 

 When he returned he found the horse standing on the 

 spot where he had left him. The day was full of dis- 

 asters. 



The last specimen of sport provided by Farnborough 

 that I have is of a straighter character, and conse- 

 quently a greater extent of country was traversed, 

 although the distance was not much greater than in the 

 one just given, and the run was not of so severe a 

 character. It was one morning in February of 1817, 

 that '* the Warwickshire " came to Farnborough. 

 There was a very sharp frost in the morning and it was 



A straighter Tun- 

 ing animal. 



