LORD KINTORE 99 



Lord Kintore soon found out that the 

 country he had at his command was larger 

 than he could hunt properly, so he arranged 

 that Mr. Combe should continue to hunt the 

 South Oxfordshire country, and in 1828 he 

 invited his friend, Sir John Cope, who was 

 then hunting in South Berkshire, to bring his 

 hounds into the Old Berks country, and to 

 have two separate fortnight's hunting. Sir 

 John's servants were then Thomas Tocock, 

 huntsman ; Joe Paice, first whip, and young 

 Robert Tocock second. They went about 

 Christmas, and had a capital run of sport, and 

 killed their foxes, though the weather was not 

 good for hunting, being frosty, though not so 

 hard as to stop hounds. Sir John Cope's 

 hounds hunted from Abingdon and had some 

 excellent runs. One day they found in Witten- 

 ham Wood, whence, after running for two hours 

 from fox to fox, in the wood, they went away 

 over the downs by Blewbury, Ilsley, Compton, 

 and Eling into Fence Wood, where the Hunts- 

 man, who had changed horses three times, was 

 the only man up with the hounds, being last 

 mounted on Mr. Blackall Simmonds' second 

 horse, a famous chestnut. Horses were seen 

 planted about the downs like trees, ridden to 

 a standstill, and one or two never saw their 

 stables again. They had another severe day 



