TWO FOX-UP-A-CHBINEY HUNTS 153 



after "his teeth had been through his coat sleeve — 

 the village yokels fled out of the garden as though 

 they had caught sight of the devil himself. Carry- 

 ing the fox into the open he put him down in an 

 adjoining field, and after dwelling a moment or 

 two, he shot away, like an arrow from the bow. 

 " Tally ho" shouted Cox, and hounds were laid on ; 

 coursing their fox for a field or two, to roll him 

 over in the open as he headed back to Aswarby. 

 The mask of this historical fox now hangs in the 

 room as we write his story ; a coat of paint being 

 the substitute for the fur, w^hich has long ago dis- 

 appeared from the hide. 



The sport of the afternoon was rather disappoint- 

 ing, spent in hunting the whereabouts of two couples 

 of hounds who had slipped away on the line of 

 another fox. When we drew Newton Wood about 

 four o'clock in the afternoon, the field of the morn- 

 ing was considerably reduced in size, but there was 

 a fox at home, hounds quickly speaking to him ! 



How often have the best runs of a season's sport 

 occurred with a February fox; for a "dog" found 

 away from his own ground, will run home, let the 

 wind blow which way it will. The acknowledged best 

 classic performances, all occurred in this most sport- 

 ing month of the fox-hunters' calendar, and are the 

 Billesdon Coplow^ February 24, 1800 ; the Waterloo 

 run with the Pytchley, February 2, 1866 ; the Wend- 

 over, or Great wood-day with the Duke of Beaufort's. 

 All these were of great length and severity, passing 

 through more than one county, and a dozen or 

 more parishes. Foxes, before game preserving was 

 known in its present form, had to travel far and 

 wide for their food, and were consequently wilder 

 and stouter than at the present day. But to 

 judge the merits of a run, time and pace should be 



