SEASOAS 1841- I S6(). 103 



' quarters, and a back short enough and limbs good 

 ' enough to carry any weight ; but a weedy one would 

 ' not go far under Mr. Batty. 



' After Mr. Walker's coverts had also been drawn 

 ' blank, a tremendous storm forced us all to take shelter 

 ' under his hospitable roof, and as the day was wearing 

 ' late, many turned their horses' heads for home as soon 

 ' as the weather gave them an opportunity. Sir Charles, 

 'however, persevered, and though 8 to i had been offered 

 ' in the field against finding, stood the friend of the 

 'taker by getting on a fox in Oldham Wood, and running 

 ' him about twenty minutes. Scent proved very bad 

 'however, and night and darkness coming on, they had 

 ' to give him up. This is, I hear, the second time that 

 'part of the country has been drawn unsuccessfullv, 

 ' though the pack have not actually had a blank day 

 ' for seven seasons. It is a great pity foxes are so scarce 

 ' here, as it is open and wild, thinly inhabited, and there 

 ' appears very little to turn a fox from his line ; it is 

 ' said also to carry a capital scent. There can be no 

 ' doubt that at the present moment there is unusual 

 ' difficulty in finding, from foxes lying so much out in 

 ' fields, drains, and hedges ; still they must be very 

 ' scarce for such an extent of country to be drawn blank. 



'Tuesday saw us at Copmanthorpe, with a much better 

 ' prospect of a find, for the celebrated Askham Bogs hold an 

 ' apparently unlimited supply, though, strange to say, cubs 

 ' are never bred there. A main earth within a short distance 

 ' however keeps up the supply, and as soon as the corn 

 ' is cut the}^ betake themselves to its shelter. This is a 

 'large covert, principally of Ijirch wood, nearly two 

 ' hundred acres in extent, long- and narrow, and not at 

 ' the present time just the best in the world to get away 

 'from, owing to a causeway through it being out of repair 

 ' and impassable. You are sure of a large and good field 

 ' at Copmanthorpe, as the Tuesdays in the Ainsty country 

 ' have become quite a proverb ; and week after week has 

 ' shown such a succession of brilliant things, that no one 

 ' who hunts at all thinks of missing them. Tuesday last, 

 ' though cold and rainy, with every appearance of a regular 

 ' walking day, was no exception. Amongst a field 



