The FitzwilUam. 57 



country its most ardent admirers would find it difficult 

 to deny. Tliey don^t trouble themselves much about 

 ivare ivheat there — or they would never go a-hunting 

 at all — but they would be glad, no doubt, to ride 

 on a sounder surface. The fences, in much of the 

 best of the country, fully bear out the theory 

 that they were grown to separate cattle, rather than 

 to mark the boundary between one field of cereal and 

 another; for they are of blackthorn of high rank 

 growth, often quite impervious and impracticable. 

 The only way to combat them, then, is to ^' go 

 round.^^ There is usually a comfortable hole in one 

 corner, which the old hands know as readily as a 

 hare does a smeuse. This kind of fence is especially 

 the rule all over the south and south-west of the 

 Fitzwilham country — a district into which you must 

 take a horse as strong and well-bred as you can afford 

 yourself. Before purchasing', just give him five 

 minutes at his best pace through a deep fallow with 

 the reins laid on his neck, and you will know pretty 

 well if he is suited to carry you from Barnwell Wold. 

 It is much to be wondered at that more hunting- 

 men do not run down — if only for an occasional day — 

 to these hounds. The kennels are at Milton Park, 

 only three miles from Peterborough; and Peter- 

 borough, where the best of accommodation may be 

 had, is only about one hour and three quarters from 

 King^s Cross. Indeed, for a man whose occupation 

 only allows him two or three days of liberty in the 

 week (and who aspires to something a little wilder 

 than one of Her Majesty^s bucks) a much better 

 position at which to station a few horses could not 



