174 Hunting Countries of England. 



first week of each month. For this purpose the pack 

 was sent on the first Monday of the month to Kedlas- 

 ton Inn (near Derby), whence it hunted three days, 

 and returned to Kennels on Saturday. This was 

 called the '' Derby week ;" and under this arrangement 

 the best part of the country obviously did not receive 

 its full share of attention. If a frost fell early in a 

 month, the district would, as often happened, remain 

 unhunted for seven or eight weeks. From the Hoar 

 Cross Kennels, too, it was the custom to take hounds 

 by rail to Ashbourne once a week for a day in the 

 Upper country. At Mr. MeynelFs decease the hounds 

 were left by will to the Country ; and Lord Waterpark 

 and Mr. Clowes took them, on the conditions of a 

 guaranteed subscription and of Kennels being provided 

 in the centre of the country. Kennels were accor- 

 dingly erected at Sudbury ; and ever since it has been 

 the rule to hunt two days a week in Derbyshire, and 

 two in Staffordshire — the Eiver Dove separating the 

 counties, and dividing the Meynell territory into two 

 portions very equal in size, but very different in 

 feature. The days of hunting are Monday, Tuesday, 

 Thursday, and Saturday ; and the northern, or Derby- 

 shire, half is hunted on Tuesday and Thursday — in 

 order that all the hounds, which are divided into two 

 ])acks, may each week have their turn in both open and 

 woodland. For, whereas the country north of the 

 Dove is grass from end to end, and such a thing as a 

 large wood is unknown, south of the river it is in many 

 parts hidden by woodlands for miles. On the Derby- 

 shire side the soil is almost entirely devoted to dairy 

 farming ; and over a wide, undulating plain you see for 



