/IDr. CbapUn aiiD * Zbc Woctot ' 295 



the- Hill, as usual the day after the show, and nearly 

 every man fortunate enough to get them had his 

 prize ribbons on. First the hounds drew Lax Hill, 

 a small gorse covert near Manton. They found 

 directly, and went away towards Oakham, along the 

 Catmose Vale. The Squire of Blankney was riding 

 a big brown horse he had recently bought at Mr. 

 Gerard Leigh's sale for 500 guineas, which was sup- 

 posed to be one of the best horses in England, but 

 he found his master when he tackled 'The Doctor,' 

 especially as Mr. Chaplin was trying to give me at 

 least 8 St. ; he rode quite 18 St., and I about 10 st. 

 After we had gone about a mile the Squire was very 

 anxious to see my old horse jump, and was following 

 so close to me that he nearly jumped into my coat-tail 

 pocket. Presently I saw a real good big bit of 

 timber in the corner of a field, and I went a little out 

 of my way to jump it, which the old horse managed ; 

 but Mr. Chaplin met with misfortune. It was a 

 nasty fence, and no horse could clear it unless he 

 was a very bold one, and a big jumper as well. 

 There were four rails on a little bank, with a wide 

 ditch on the landing side, and a nasty dip, where the 

 cattle had been trampling the ground up, on the 

 take-off side, and unless a horse stood well back, or 

 took off early enough, he had no chance to get over 



