The Whaddon Chase, 357 



shire. He may slip down for a gallop over tlie grass 

 almost any day of the week that he finds himself, or 

 sets himself, at hberty. He will get his hunting here 

 much as he did in his college days — snatching it 

 according to his keenness and his conscience ; often 

 putting weightier matters aside, if he is a weak man 

 or an enthusiast — persuading himself, perhaps, that 

 health and nerve bid him take the saddle and breathe 

 the open air. We have even heard instances whispered 

 of barrister or city man being seen sailing over the 

 Vale when sympathetic relatives imagined him to be 

 poring over musty law books at Gray's Inn or slaving 

 over invoice and ledger in Cornhill, Knotty law- 

 points or trade depreciation were the subjects they 

 brought home to dinner, while inwardly they chuckled 

 over that brilliant twenty minutes from Christmas 

 Gorse, gloated silently over the way they had left the 

 Addington brook behind with the Baron, or hugged 

 themselves as they toasted ^^ the Chase '^ under their 

 breath. 



The Whaddon Chase hunt Tuesdays and Saturdays 

 (with occasional Thursdays devoted to the hills and 

 woodlands adjoining the Oakley and Herts countries) 

 while the staghounds are out on Mondays and 

 Thursdays, and the Bicester, with the Oakley, the 

 Hertfordshire, or the Duke of Grafton's on various 

 sides, may be reached on other days. The whole of 

 the Vale, with the exception of Lord Carington's 

 property, and a few minor freeholds, may be said to 

 belong to Mr. Selby Lowndes or the Rothschild 

 family ; and it is needless to add that in these hands 

 it is as complete a hunting-ground as the New Forest 



