216 HUNTING. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE SHIRKS, 



THE Shires are the eye of hunting England. There are indeed 

 some who maintain that there is no hunting worthy of the 

 name anywhere else : veterans who regard them as the poet's 

 hero, who married the gardener's daughter, regarded the picture 

 of his dead wife : 



the idol of my youth, 



The darling of my manhood, and alas ! 



Now the most blessed memory of mine age. 



Such a one would be that distinguished soldier who, as the 

 story goes, when asked by a mild stranger if he had ever been 

 out with the Crawley and Horsham, thundered in reply, ' No, 

 sir ! I have never hunted with any hounds in my life but 



the Quorn and the Pytchley, and I'll take d d good care 



I never do ! ' an expression of opinion which, it may here be 

 observed, the narrator of this story by no means subscribes to. 

 Geographically defined the Shires are limited to three 

 counties, Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Northamptonshire. 

 But a geographical definition will not serve. A considerable 

 part of the Belvoir country is, for instance, in Lincolnshire. Now 

 to hunt with that famous pack is most certainly to hunt in the 

 Shires ; to hunt with the Burton, the Blankney, or the Brocklesby, 

 which also wage war with the foxes of Lincolnshire, is not. Again, 

 Lord Ferrers' hounds, which hunt a little tract of country chipped 

 off the north-west comer of the Quorn, are not held to be free 

 of the guild. Neither is the Atherstone, part of whose hunting 

 ground lies in Leicestershire ; nor the two Warwickshire packs, 

 nor the Duke of Grafton's hounds, nor the Oakley, all of which 



