172 Reminiscences of a 



a countryman during a run, or to an engine driver for 

 stopping liis train when hounds happened to be on the Hne. 



Lady Castlereagh, now the Marchioness of Londonderry, 

 was very fond of hunting, and particularly fond of seeing 

 hounds worU. She always seemed to be interested in them 

 at a meet, and looked them over, and when once shown 

 them could generally pick out the prize hounds again. She 

 had a good knowledge of the country as regards fox-hunting, 

 and knew what hounds were doing, which enabled her to 

 see a lot of sport that others who rode harder did not — for 

 she seemed to know the line a fox would make, which is 

 very important in this kind of sport. 



Lady Aline Vane Tempest had beautiful hands and seat, 

 and was very fond of the sport ; she went well, and, with 

 some good cattle, was generally to the front. I remember 

 one day a little chestnut with a white foot, she was riding, 

 got its foot fast in a gate that was lying flat on the ground, 

 just as we came under the Stockton and Sunderland line, 

 near Carlton, and it was wedged so tight that the horse 

 walked two or three steps with the gate on its hind leg ; 

 I never saw such a thing happen before. Sir William Eden, 

 I distinctly remember, was riding near to or alongside her 

 ladyship at the time, and, I think, dismounted to assist her ; 

 and almost at the same time, with a piece of luck, the gate 

 gave way and no harm was done. We ran that day close 

 to Stillington station, I remember it so well. She was 

 always well mounted, and seldom had a fall. 



In those days. Lord Herbert used to hunt; he began 

 riding a fat, grey horse, that looked more suitable for the 

 butcher than the hunting field, but the horse was really in 

 good, hard condition ; he was a good, clever horse that 

 wanted rousing a bit, and got it sometimes ; as he went on. 



