SEASO^rS 1S41 - T86g. 93 



' a very severe frost, and without a single casualty, is a 

 ' feat almost unparalleled in hunting. Though many 

 ' availed themselves of the excuse of danger and went 

 ' home, too early by far for British volunteers, many 

 ' called for their second horses in vain during the run ; 

 ' the pace was too quick. That week was good for 

 ' scent, for the York had a clipper from Whixley and 

 ' the Bedale from Bamlett's Whin. — Eboracum.' 



' Eboracum,' whose style is not so Horicl as in his earHer 

 letter, still shows that he is not a keen observer. For 

 instance, he says that after cooling their heels for tivo hours, 

 Sir Charles threw off at noon. Now hounds met in those 

 days at 10 30 a.m., so that they only waited an hour and a 

 half. From Sessay Wood to Gilling is a ten-mile point, and 

 the run was undoubtedly a fine one. It would probably be 

 about twelve or thirteen miles as hounds ran, and the pace 

 seems to have been something like that in the famous 

 Melbourne run of later years. With the going as it was, 

 there seems no reason to dispute the time. 



Sir Charles Slingsby, like other masters of hounds, had 

 his own troubles, and there were some grumblers amongst 

 his supporters. These seem to have been amongst those 

 who lived in York, or close by, men who complained that 

 so many of the fixtures were made far away from them. 

 The complaint appeared in the public prints, but there seems 

 to have been nothing more about it ; and it is only an 

 instance of how difficult it is to make the rank and file of 

 hunting men understand that a master of hounds has to hunt 

 his country according to the circumstances which prevail at 

 the time. 



Again there is a period of a couple of years without 

 record, and then our friend ' Eboracum ' takes up his parable 

 again. As there are several items of interest in his account, 

 I give part of it verbatim : — 



M 



