80 The Hunting Countries of England, 



Gaddesby Hall, respectively. A narrow cliain of 

 plough (some two or three fields broad) embraces all 

 three coverts; but once clear, either to the north or 

 south, you will ride, in the best of company, over a 

 grass country that has no superior. Thorpe Trussels 

 is composed of some six or eight acres of dense thorn 

 growth^ Cream Gorse is a trifle bigger, with Ashby 

 Pastures in between, a tangled wood of about fifty 

 acres — each being about a mile from the other. To 

 run down by Ashby and Twyford, perhaps to Bag- 

 grave, John o^ Gaunt, or the Cottesmore Woods, with 

 a good scent and a start, is only so much short of 

 Elysium as your disposition is phlegmatic and your- 

 self out of place. 



Another meet, with an ulterior view to Cream 

 Gorse, &c., is Brooksby Hall. It is also very fre- 

 quently fixed upon for the Thursday byedays; and 

 it has many little spinneys in its neighbourhood, to 

 which the smaller field of such days are often 

 taken for a find and a gallop. There are two 

 or three similar spinnies belonging to Rearsby, 

 besides the well sheltered little covert of Bleakmore 

 by the side of the Wreake. Beyond Gaddesby there is 

 Mr. Cheney^s new little covert ; then Queniboro^ 

 Spinney, a well frequented plantation by the roadside ; 

 and beyond it we find ourselves at the great good 

 covert of Barkby Holt, and the newly grown gorse 

 attached — the village of Queniboro^ and Barkby Hall 

 being the places of meeting. When Barkby Hall is 

 advertised, the spinnies of Barkby Thorpe, and 

 perhaps those of Humberston, may be drawn before 

 proceeding to the Holt ; and, in the early part of the 



