22 HISTORY OF THE YORK: AND AINSTY HUNT. 



' the Hon. L. Savile, Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, and 

 ' Mr. Fox Lane have rivalled each other in determined 

 ' and continued good sport. Among these, although we 

 ' allow in general, the old adage " comparisons are 

 ' odious," Lord Darlington's and Sir Mark's hounds are 

 ' certainly the best. Could old Meynell have seen the latter 

 ' go the pace as on Saturday and Monday last they did, 

 ' he would have forsworn for ever the " green fields of 

 ' IVfelton." We may assert without flattery that Monda}^ 

 ' was the finest day's sport ever remembered in the 

 ' annals of York fox-hunting. 



" How sweet was the joy on a high scenting day 

 When from Sessay's old cover they holloa'd away. 

 While the pack in high glee pursued the bold fox 

 Who, running up wind, climbed Hambleton's rocks." 



' For out of a field of 150 sportsmen who started with 

 ' the hounds, the following were the only ones up at the top 

 ' of Hambleton, viz.: — Will Carter, the. huntsman. Sir F. 

 ' Boynton, Messrs. Treacher, Hawke, Best, Lascelles, and 

 ' Mr. Batty, the farmer. The rest, in sorrowful mood we 

 ' may fairly say, did not get to the top. Could the 

 ' Emperor Napoleon have beheld, — first of all the beauty 

 ' of the prospect from the top of the stupendous White 

 ' Mare, then the gallant sportsmen, despising all dangers 

 ' to reach the summit, he would gladly have relinquished 

 ' his throne of thorns to have joined in the diversion 

 ' of this glorious day, more glorious, as less culpable 

 ' than the plains of Marengo or of Jaffa, and would he 

 ' not have relinquished his Vin de Champagne or de 

 ' Bordeaux for humble port, when filled to the brim in 

 ' " Success to Fox-Hunting." ' 



This is a very curious account of a run, for beyond 

 the place where hounds found and the place where they 

 finished, little or nothing is said about the run itself. It is 

 a very good type, however, of the sort of hunting- 

 information which is to be found in old newspapers and 

 magazines. The Emperor Napoleon was busy at the time 

 planning the Confederation of the Rhine, but it is very 





