206 The Hunting Countries of England. 



talent for working their way about. And the rider 

 must possess both perseverance and discrimination if 

 he can work his way honestly through a series of wide 

 strong coverts, to emerge at the right time and point, 

 as the pack breaks into the open. The woodlands are 

 wide, extensive, and here and there run in a lengthy chain, 

 which a fox can scarcely be made to leave unless he is 

 so inclined. But the rides are in very few instances 

 excessively deep ; and the hazel growth, at any rate 

 after midwinter, lets hounds easily through. So the 

 chase often pushes merrily on, and the ear is 

 frequently the only guide for many a mile. This 

 especially applies to the mass of great coverts 

 stretching to the east and south-east of the Kennels. 

 For instance, from Clarendon (Sir F. Bathurst^s place) 

 toBentley Wood and Spirewell (or Sperywell) Wood is a 

 continuous chain whose links show never a gap of more 

 than a field or two. And, again, in the Standlinch 

 direction, the woodlands which include Trafalgar 

 (Lord Nelson^s), The Earldoms, Langford Wood, 

 Meanwood, Gatmore and Melchet Court (Lady Ash- 

 burton^s) form a series in which a stranger must cling 

 very closely and untiringly to hounds, if ever he is to 

 clear himself. A succession of woods also follow the 

 west bank of the Avon ; but these are, individually, 

 of much smaller size, averaging something between 

 twenty and forty acres. On the river bank, as above 

 mentioned, the country assimilates itself in some 

 slight degree to that of the New Forest. The soil, 

 however, though wet and undrained, is nowhere heavy 

 and sticky. Across the river it soon assumes the 

 wild, heathery and often swampy, aspect that retains 



