THE SHIRKS, 231 



not only all the pick of the native meets, but the Quorn, the 

 Belvoir, and Sir B. Cunard's are also accessible. Westward 

 and southward from Oakham to the Quorn boundaries is the 

 best of the Cottesmore country : fine grass fields carrying a 

 good scent in almost all weathers, plenty of foxes, and fences 

 — ' tremendious,' as Dick Christian would have said, and did 

 say, over w^hich, on a memorable day, he pounded the late 

 Lord Cardigan on his famous Dandy. There are some stiff 

 hills about Tilton and Launde, which are not much admired 

 when they present themselves in the middle of a quick burst, 

 however much they contribute at other times to the pic- 

 turesqueness of the scenery. Leesthorpe and Langham are 

 the favourite meets hereabouts. From the first you get the 

 Punchbowl, from the second Ranksboro Gorse, names surely 

 familiar to every man, woman, or child that has ever heard of 

 a fox, a hound, or a horse. Close to Melton are Wyld's Lodge 

 and Stapleford Park. Just outside the latter is a noted draw, 

 Laxton's covert, below which runs a well-known stream, com- 

 monly but wrongly assimilated with the Whissendine. If you 

 run from Laxton's to Ranksboro, however, you are pretty sure 

 to cross the latter, and not absolutely certain not to get into it. 

 A great feature of the Cottesmore country is its woods ; not 

 the regular woodlands that lie on the eastern side beyond 

 Stamford, but the smaller ones hereabouts — the Great and 

 Little woods of Owston, the woods of Launde and Launde 

 Park, of Tilton, and Wardley, and Witham, and Orton Park. 

 A woodland draw has its drawbacks, of course (we protest 

 against any intention of a pun) ; but these are such splendid 

 nurseries of foxes that no good sportsman would wish to see 

 them diminished by so much as a tree. Besides, when you do 

 get well away from them, you can hardly go wrong, and no fox 

 ever runs so staunchly and straightly as a woodland-bred one. 



On the eastern side of the hunt, from Stamford northwards 

 past Bowne to Grimsthorpe Park, which is almost on the 

 borders of the Belvoir, runs a great range of w^oodlands. Full 

 of foxes they are, but not otherwise attractive. The country 



