LETTER XVI. 1G9 



hounds' feet were sorely cut and bruised. We were 

 alike, all strangers in the land ; and, these things being 

 taken into consideration, we had a hard battle to fight, 

 all the odds being against us. We had on our side con- 

 fidence in the hounds, perseverance, and activity ; and to 

 these we trusted to fight through our difiiculties. Hal- 

 loos, as I have before remarked, I never attended to ; 

 knowledge of the country I had none. We had, there- 

 fore, to find our fox, and stick close to the hounds, in 

 and out of covert, being always with them, wherever they 

 turned. Our horses were nearly thorough bred, and 

 good fencers, but in the fencing department the country 

 was deficient. We had, therefore, no opportunity of 

 'pounding our neighbours, which at that time of day we 

 were quite capable of doing, when any stiff" work of this 

 kind was before us. A few of our hard riders had gone 

 up with the hounds, just, as they said, to show the natives 

 how to do the trick ; but, much to their annoyance, there 

 were few fences to ride over, and, but for the warm and 

 hospitable reception they met with, would soon have re- 

 turned back again. 



A good and jovial sportsman remarked one day to some 

 of the field, *' Well, gentlemen, I cannot say much as 

 regards the hunting part of it, but I candidly admit yours 

 is the best six o'clock country I have ever been in ; and 

 if we cannot go very fast over these flinty fallows, we 

 certainly do go the pace over the mahogany in the even- 

 ing, and I pronounce your country in that respect second 

 to none." Our entertainers did their best to amuse us, 

 and their hospitality was unbounded. Dinner parties 

 every day in the week ; so that we had rather hard work, 

 taking the day and night together. The foxes also ap- 



