The GAU.orixG Squire. 405 



type, had a pack of beagles which he hunted himself, whipped in by the parish clerk, a 

 cripple, who was unable to ride astride, but lay across his moor-pony like a sack of wool, 

 and in this position galloped and holloaed, and cracked his whip with infinite zeal and skill. 



Hare-hunting countries may broadly be divided into three descriptions : — Enclosed fields, 

 like Berkshire and Kent, where in short bursts there is plenty of fencing for those who like it, 

 while those who do not are pretty sure that if they do not ride up to the pack the pack will 

 come back to them. Hilly countries, like Devonshire and Somersetshire, Westmoreland, 

 Cumberland, and Wales, North and South, where riding to hounds is generally impossible 

 if once they leave the open moors for fields enclosed by high banks. In these counties every 

 little farmer is a sportsman, knows every hound by sight and voice, understands the meaning 

 of every note, knows the habits of hare or fox familiarly, and hunts with all his soul — if old 

 and heavy, from the top of a hill. Jumping is quite out of his line ; a select few may rush 

 down the steep hills, and curiously climb, partly on foot, the steep sides of valleys, and by 

 exception leap a gate or stile — but that is quite the exception. The third class of hunting 

 country is over open undulating downs, like Salisbury Plain and the South Downs of Sussex, 

 home of the best mutton in the world, and of very stout hares, which have been known to 

 run clean away from the hounds. 



The horse for hare-hunting need not, in an enclosed country, be fa.st, but should be clever 

 at cramped places. A very good sort of horse for hunting hare or fo.x in a county of small 

 fields is shown at page 231. No horse, however quiet on the road, should be trusted by an 

 unpractised horseman or horsewoman with hounds, even if only to see the find, without any 

 intention of following them, because some of the most placid of mature years become 

 dangerously frantic when the pack lift up their voices in melodious chorus. In hilly countries 

 and on downs, the hare-hunting horse or pony must be well-bred, or he will soon come to a 

 standstill. Indeed, if up to the weight of the rider, there is nothing so good as a well-bred 

 pony for galloping up and down steep hills or over long rolling downs. A tall pasture- 

 county hunter is quite out of place. 



Lancashire, which has no fox-hounds, had five packs of hare-hounds mentioned in the 

 " Rural Almanack," and has probably many more. Lady Duff Gordon, one of the most 

 accomplished women and genial travellers of this century, was an enthusiastic huntress. In a 

 letter quoted in her " Life " she says : " The Princes (of Orleans) always sent to tell us of 

 the meets of their harriers. We had famous runs in the cramped country about Esher, small 

 fields, big fences, and large water-jumps in the low-lying flats near the river." 



FOX-HUNTING. 



" Come, I'll show you a countiy that none can surpass, 

 For a flyer to cross like a bird on the wing ; 

 We have acres of woodland and oceans of grass, 



We have game in the autumn and cubs in the spring. 

 We have scores of good fellows hang out in the shire, 

 But the best of them all is the Galloping Squire. 



" One wave of his arm, to the covert they throng ;* 



'Yoi! wind him! and rouse him! By Jove, he's away! 



Through a gap in the oaks see them speeding along 

 Over the open like pigeons — they mean it to-day ! 



You may jump till you're sick — you may spur till you tire ! 



F'or it's catch 'em who can!' says the Galloping Squire. 



