280 Hunting Countries of England. 



over in making his first turn. But this is not every- 

 day. The wold, now and again, will carry you on as 

 briskly as the short crisp turf of the Downs ; and you 

 may leave turnips and stubble and fallow behind you 

 gaily, with no time to turn out of your way for the one 

 row of hurdles that offers its services for a leap. 

 But often the wold is cold, and hard, and heartless : 

 and even the Downs frequently will not help you, if 

 you give them time to think about it. Then the 

 Tedworth Country is in its inhospitable mood. Would 

 vou obtain at a glance a fair idea of the Tedworth 

 Hills, betake yourself on a clear day to the top of 

 Beacon Hill, a few miles from the Kennels ; and let 

 your eye wander over the sweeping undulations that 

 roll smoothly away as far as vision will follow, like 

 nothing else than the broad unbroken rollers below 

 the Cape of Good Hope, in what is there termed a 

 calm. Mile upon mile of unruffled surface, without a 

 break to cross the scene or impede the view. The 

 Downs dotted with sheep, like the white floating forms 

 of seagulls; the green turnip fields and occasional 

 coverts, as darker shadows cloud cast amid the sun- 

 like glare of the cornfields — all go to make the simile 

 more fitting. 



A drawback — of more magnitude than would be 

 supposed — is contained in the presence of the hares 

 on the Downs. They may not interfere much on a 

 strong scenting day. But they baffle and bother 

 terribly when hounds are called upon to stoop to their 

 work — for they flutter and skip across the line, not 

 singly, but almost by the score. Flints are an enemy 

 to hounds all over Hants and Wilts ; and wring the 



