THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



195 



Idlicote country, their fox put on a splendid speed and Lord 



, p ^ T-rr • , • T , -1 1 VVlLLOlTGIIBT DE 



made for Compton Wy mates, which he passed and Broke. 



ascended the hills. After a little hesitation they went 



on through Epwell Plantations, to the right of 



the village and over the valley to Shutford, beyond 



which they viewed. Broughton then was his point. 



Touching the moat he turned through the village and 



went over the fields to Crouch Hill, and passing this was 



pulledover in sight of the town of cakes. The time was 



a little over two hours and the distance quite a dozen 



miles from point to point, and^ of course, as they ran it, 



more. This did not, however, end the day, for 



after accepting Mr. Fane Gladwin's invitation to refresh 



themselves, they moved to the keeper's wood at 



Wroxton, and turning one up, ran him back to 



Broughton, over the brook, by Lower Tadmarton, 



rounding as if for Bloxham, but marking 



him to ground one field beyond the road to 



that village, after a splendid gallop of five-and- 



twenty minutes. This was undoubtedly the run of a 



very broken season. In the intervals, when hunting 



has been possible, Warwickshire has shown that it still 



has sport in it. May next season enable Lord 



Willoughby's followers to draw and to taste it " direct 



from the wood." 



A change of masters does not always aflfect the great Lord Willough- 



An after-gallop. 



matter of breeding to the same extent as it may do ^^ ^^.^^^^^^^^^^^"^ 



other affairs of the hunt. It very often indicates not 



much more than a change in the field management, but 



it was not so when Lord Willoughby took " the 



Warwickshire " in hand. He determined to raise 



them to the pink of perfection and energetically set 



about doing so. His first lists contain drafts 



from " the Belvoir " and " the Brocklesby " and bear 



all the evidence of a careful selection, and the sparing 



of no pains in going far and wide for the introduction 



of blood, which would improve the status of the 



pack. How well he has succeeded their results 



