First Whipper-in. 121 



of his first day in the Sedgefield country in the year 1829, 

 when the hounds met at Blakiston, near Wynyard. "After 

 drawing several coverts blank," to use his own words, which 

 I know by heart, " we were holloaed to a fox as we were 

 going to Sutton's old whin, crossed the Tees, and killed our 

 fox near Great Ayton, with Rosebery Topping frowning 

 above us." Mr. Harvey rode his hunter back to Sedgefield, 

 over twenty miles, dined there, and then mounted his hack 

 and rode back to Newcastle, twenty-five miles further on ; 

 he always estimated that he rode between eighty and 

 ninety miles that day, exclusive of the distance from covert 

 to covert whilst drawing; but during the early part of his 

 career this would not be an excessive distance, for before 

 the days of railways, he used to hack from Newcastle to 

 Sedgefield and back three days a week, and would then 

 mount his hunter and proceed to the meet, so that his 

 average daily ride, when hunting, would be about sixty miles 

 to and from the meets alone, as I have often heard him say 

 that it was only during the later period of his mastership 

 that he came to Sedgefield over-night, and almost to the 

 very last he would have a chop for dinner at the Hardwick 

 Arms, and ride home after a day's hunting. Mr. Harvey 

 had a painting of the little chestnut mare he rode in that, 

 his first and perhaps most memorable, run from the Sedge- 

 field country. He once showed it to me in his house at 

 Leazes Terrace, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and the tears ran down 

 the cheeks of the poor old gentleman, then upwards of 

 eighty years of age, as he pointed out to me the good 

 points of his first little hunter, apparently, to judge from 

 the picture, about 14.3 h.h. 



He was the kindest of masters, and would have given 

 anything in the world to any one fond of foxes and fox- 



