360 The Hunting Countries of England, 



Mind, tlie doubles of the Aylesbury Vale require a 

 borse ; and, above all, they require a horseman. Often 

 a double ditch guards a bank and its double wattle- 

 growth atop. Courage in a horse (want of it in the 

 man must never be hinted at) ; skilful handling by 

 the rider; are the requisites. The first can be attained 

 if your income, your horse dealer, and the size of your 

 family allow it : the second is to be achieved by a few 

 falls, innate ambition and a real love of the sport. 

 Some good men have it that the Vale of Aylesbury is 

 too stiff. Others equally good (perhaps less self- 

 depreciative) say it is practicable enough. The mean 

 truth is, I fancy, to be found in the opinion that it is 

 sufficiently rideable to allow of hounds being at all 

 times commanded by a good couplet of horse and 

 man though now and again they may have to diverge 

 a trifle from their direct path. For there are, un- 

 doubtedly, many welded upbuilt fences that appear 

 unwarrantable to a rider of discretion, however well 

 mounted. Yet, again and again — and somehow — 

 these terrors get dispersed by the passage of a leader 

 bolder than others ; and his example soon brings on a 

 following that lays a breach for the season through. 

 Thus, by means of stag and fox, the Aylesbury Vale 

 is very different ground in spring to what it is in 

 autumn. A well-horsed waggon might almost cross 

 it at a gallop in April ; but " a mon is a mon " who 

 can carve out twenty quick minutes on its face in 

 November. You will not so often as in Leicestershire 

 be checked and hindered by a crowd all aiming to 

 reach and take their turn at a few certain feasible 

 points. The Vale occasionally has its multitude, but 



