The Hursley. 83 



THE HUESLEY.* 



A EOUGH little country of wood and wold, but well 

 preserved and well hunted, and where sport is worked 

 out in spite of difficulties, is the Hursley, under the 

 management of Col. Nicoll. Some thirty couple of 

 hounds (chiefly of Lord Portsmouth's blood) are 

 kennelled at Pitt Farm, close to Winchester ; to hunt 

 the down that stretches to Stockbridge, and the wood- 

 land that runs down to Southampton and adjoin the 

 New Forest. The Kennels may be somewhat primi- 

 tive ; but they are eminently healthy and comfortable 

 — being well thatched buildings, warm in winter, cool 

 in summer, and with the bracing air of the downs ever 

 playing on the hillside where the hounds are exer- 

 cised. 



The north of the Hursley country is akin to that of 

 its neighbours, the Tedworth and the H.H. — mile 

 upon mile of sweeping undulations — the thin soil that 

 covers the chalk tilled everywhere for grain or green 

 crop ; sharp flints scattered broadcast over the surface; 

 and never a fence to check horse or hound in his 

 stride. Here and there the outline of the cornfields is 



* Vide Stanford's " Hunting Map," Sheet 21, and Hobson's 

 Poxhnnting Atlas. 



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