286 Hunting Countries of England. 



LORD FEEDERS'.* 



Of a loan from the Quorn, Lord Ferrers lias been able 

 to make a neat two days-a-week country^ which, 

 though hitherto little heard of in its separate 

 existence, has by virtue of its sports and capabilities 

 quite as good a claim to a reputation as many a 

 provincial Hunt of note. Lord Ferrers^ is, in brief, 

 a plough country of considerable merit — if of incon- 

 siderable extent. Hounds generally have to deal 

 with a scent good enough to put them on fair terms 

 with their foxes ; and very often they can run almost 

 as hard as on grass. The plough does not ride deep ; 

 and the fences, of moderate size, can be taken much 

 as they come — being an honest description of thorn 

 and ditch. When the Quorn kept it in their own 

 hands, this portion formed their Saturday ground. 

 Sometimes, week after week, they used to come to the 

 grass side on a Monday, full of the smart runs with 

 which they had wound up the previous week — but 

 which, happening far out of the ken of their Meltonian 

 hearers, were accepted, if not with the salt-grain of 

 incredulity, at least with a condescension that plainly 



* Vide " Stanford's Large Scale Map," Sheet 16 also, 

 *' Hobson's Foxhunting Atlas." 



