186 Hunting Countries of England. 



of Mr. Selby Lowndes and the Duke of Grafton, to 

 occupy spare days : Brackley and Banbury have the 

 Duke, the Warwickshire and the Heythrop to fall 

 back upon, when the pack they subscribe to is not in 

 the field. 



The Bicester hunting days are professedly three in 

 the week. Practically they are four — Monday being 

 always added to the card by Lord Valentia, the 

 present master. The other days are Tuesday, 

 Thursday, and Saturday; and the distribution is as 

 follows : 



Monday is, perhaps four times out of nine, devoted 

 to the Oxford Woodlands, four times more to the 

 Tingewick Woods, and on the odd occasion to the 

 lower Northamptonshire country, about Farthinghoe 

 or Thenford — of all which sections we shall have more 

 to say anon. For the moment it will answer the pur- 

 pose to remark that Monday may be spent in very 

 happy fashion, — or it may be otherwise. Tuesday is 

 the day for the Bicester Flat — as the country near that 

 town is called. Thursday is for the Claydon Woods 

 and the Aylesbury Vale ; and Saturday for the upper 

 country, where it runs into Northamptonshire above 

 Banbury. 



Taking your map in hand, you cannot but remark 

 upon the wonderful eccentricity of outline displayed 

 in the boundaries of the Bicester country. Starting 

 from near Oxford on the south, it wriggles a sinuous 

 course among the neighbouring Hunts, as if all had 

 combined to squeeze it out of existence. Its chief 

 bulk is its southern portion, where the Heythrop 

 support it on the west, the South Oxfordshire are at 



