SEASONS T84T-i86g. 107 



' down in galloping, and gives his rider an awful crasher. 

 ' At Copmanthorpe Wood our fox dares not linger, but with 

 ' the pace still as hot as ever, they press him towards the 

 ' railway, on which everyone is glad to get firm galloping. 

 ' For a mile or more they rattle him, and then, in the 

 ' open, and within twenty yards of the line there is a 

 'snap, a tumble, and all is over. " Thirty-three minutes," 

 'says Sir George Wombwell, after having taken time with 

 ' Orvis ; and the heaving flanks and distended nostrils tell 

 ' what a clinker it has been. The very fastidious may say 

 ' we had a check just after leaving Colton Hagg, but it was 

 'scarcely worth calling such; and had not the railway 

 ' given the nags a chance, I firmly believe the bitches 

 '■ would have run into their fox and eaten him ere any one 

 'got near them. A more dashing, brilliant performance I 

 ' never saw, and in such a country (deep plough) I scarcely 

 ' ever knew hounds go so fast. For a man to see the quality 

 ' of hounds, no better day could have been selected, as they 

 ' worked through difficulties with great patience and perse- 

 ' verance in the first run, and proved they could race as 

 ' well as hunt in the second. We know that the hand^.omest 

 ' hounds are not always the best in work, but I am pleased 

 ' to hear that the youngsters with which Sir Charles 

 ' Slingsby was so successful at the great Yorkshire Show 

 ' are amongst the best of the entry. One bitch was un- 

 ' fortunately ridden over or jumped upon during the scurry, 

 ' and appeared as though seriously hurt in her loins. To 

 ' say that the whole turn-out is in the best style is needless, 

 ' and when I tell my south-country friends that Sir Charles 

 ' more resembles the late Robert Cockburn, as a huntsman, 

 ' than any man I ever saw, they will not be surprised at the 

 ' sport he has shown. Orvis, the first whip, though his 

 ' head is becoming frosted, seems wonderfully hard and 

 ' active, and as fond of jumping as a boy of sixteen. 



' Now for the country. What I have seen of it (I 

 ' hope to see a good deal more yet) strikes me as being 

 ' thoroughly adapted to fox hunting, and when in a firmer 

 ' state it must be a very nice one to ride over. The 

 ' coverts are not too large and a good distance apart, 

 ' the fences mostly jumpable, yet still enough to show 

 ' what a hunter is made of; in parts, I hear, there is 



