The York and Ainsty. 45 



York is the starting-point for the hounds^ and the 

 necessary base for any visitor. Many of the meets 

 are so wide that they must be reached by rail ; but 

 hack or railway bring all the country within grasp 

 from here. York has its many sporting cities and a 

 regiment of cavalry : and from the two sources 

 supplies a strong proportion of the field at all the 

 nearer meets. With the army York has always been 

 a very popular quarter, both on sporting and social 

 grounds : and fond as soldiers are of a gallop — and 

 indifferent as they often are to the merits of a plough 

 country, especially in their youth — they ever speak 

 reverently and respectfully of the sport they saw and 

 the treatment they met with when quartered at York. 

 For the traveller who would see something of the six 

 Yorkshire packs above enumerated, the capital of the 

 county is easy to reach ; and presents every advantage 

 that a hunting-man can desire. The York and Ainsty, 

 Lord Middleton^s and the Bramham Moor are easily 

 within riding distance. So is some portion of the 

 Holderness ; while the Bedale, Sinnington, and Bads- 

 worth can each be reached by rail on their days, 

 without breaking into either breakfast or dinner hour. 

 London to York is a mere trifle of travel nowadays, 

 being but a five hours^ journey from London (Great 

 Northern Railway, King's Cross Station). The Ken- 

 nels are at Acomb, two miles out of York. The 

 Pack belongs to the Hunt : and by dint of careful 

 and clever management has been brought to a high 

 degree of merit, in field and on flag. Capt. Slingsby, 

 of Scriven Park, is now in his third year of Master- 

 ship, having succeeded Col. Fairfax, who held office 



