HUNTING LOCALITIES 179 



One remembers the story of the great hunting critic 

 who went on a visit of inspection to a provincial pack, 

 and who, after speaking of the correct way in which the 

 hunt was turned out, went on to say that, " in fact, there 

 was nothing ridiculous about the establishment until 

 they threw off." But with regard to the Old Surrey 

 there was nothing ridiculous at all, and as for the dis- 

 cussions concerning markets and trades — subjects on 

 which Surtees enlarged at length — we never heard a 

 word of them. Indeed, we may say here that thirty 

 years ago, and in much more recent times, when we have 

 hunted with all the Surrey packs, we have found in each 

 of the three — Surrey Union, Old Surrey, and Burstow 

 — not only the best behaved, but the most enthusiastic 

 of hunting people, and more hard riders in proportion 

 to the full strength of the field than in any other hunt. 



It is true that the Old Surrey are not possessed of a 

 really good country ; they have a nice bit of vale, 

 parallel with and north of the railway from Redhill to 

 Edenbridge, but the northern side of the hunt is hilly, 

 flinty land, which does not often carry a good scent, 

 and in places there are very big woodlands, while much 

 of what was, not many years ago, good hunting coun- 

 try has fallen into the hands of the builder. Neither 

 are foxes too plentiful, but still a fair average of sport 

 is maintained, and the present pack is a wonderfully 

 good-looking one, great attention having been paid by 

 Mr. Boileau to their breeding. 



Years ago Croydon was a sort of headquarters for the 

 Old Surrey, and the Saturday meets were always within 

 an easy ride of that town. Of late much of the original 

 Saturday country has been abandoned, and the fol- 

 lowers — as in all the hunts near London — reside all 

 over the country. 



