88 The Hunting Countries of England, 



the Atherstone) are meets at Kirby Muxloe, Eatby 

 Burrows,, &c., from wliicli tliey draw Martinsliaw 

 "Wood and a cliain of woods northwards — tlie best 

 result that can ensue being a trip into the Atherstone 

 kingdom. Failing this they probably find themselves 

 amid the ruins^ rocks, and rabbit holes of Bradgate 

 Park, or the woods and quarries of Swithland. If 

 Charnwood Forest now exists only in name, its former 

 whereabouts is unmistakeable. Nothing but forest 

 has a right to occupy those wild rugged hills that 

 run from Bradgate nearly to Grace dieu. Clearly 

 they must have been a landslip from far Derbyshire 

 into Leicestershire, for they have no place in a county 

 that the world generally believes to consist of flat 

 grass. Rather we expect to see Charnwood Forest 

 again when we hunt with the wild stag in Somerset- 

 shire. And yet Firr^s horn sounds not less merrily 

 here than in the open; nor do hounds dash after 

 their game with diminished vigour. Foxes are killed 

 here more certainly than under the baffling presence 

 of a crowd. The same good hounds and the same 

 good horses take their turn as on the grass ; for Mr. 

 Coupland hunts the better country and the inferior 

 with impartial hearty earnestness. And yet in ad- 

 vising the [stranger, we shall not err much in saying 

 that fifty pounds will carry him nearly as well in the 

 Forest as a hundred and fifty — except that, if hounds 

 slip over the border to the Atherstone, twenty 

 minutes may possibly put that hundred pounds 

 difference them and him. The Forest is a fine scenting 

 ground, and invaluable for educating hounds — at 

 least in such parts as are available for the early 



