The Aibrighton. 291 



held in black bondage to coal and iron. Yet for all 

 these losses and drawbacks, enough remains to the 

 Aibrighton to make it a very sporting country, with 

 room for four days a week. The heart and strength 

 of the country may be said to lie in a limited radius, 

 which contains the Kennels and is made up of such 

 estates as those of Lord Bradford, Mr. Giffard, Lord 

 Dartmouth, Mr. Foster, &c., whereon foxes are the 

 first and all-important care. Other large and very 

 friendly landowners there are, freely scattered over 

 the country, for instance, Mr. Monckton of Stretton 

 Hall, Mr. Cotes at Woodcote, Colonel Kenyon-Slaney 

 at Hatton, Mr. Vernon at Hilton, Lord Lichfield at 

 Ranton and Shelmore ; while Sir Thomas Boughey 

 himself has much property at Aqualate, and the Duke 

 of Sutherland owns Lilleshall and a very large area 

 round. The frequency of county places and o-entle- 

 men^s residences is quite a feature of The Aibrighton. 

 In some of the best preserved and most closely-hunted 

 parts of the country, you are often scarcely out of one 

 park before you are in another — a matter which may 

 be of considerable benefit to hounds, who delight in 

 finding themselves on the wide well-kept turf, but 

 which scarcely meets the aspirations of the riding 

 division who have to make the best of their way round 

 by gates. The Aibrighton is by no means a grass 

 country — nor has it even any particular part which 

 might go by the name of its '^ grass side.^^ At the 

 same time it is certainly not solely plough ; for grass 

 meadows are scattered more or less freely everywhere, 

 and the various parks in themselves constitute a con- 

 siderable aggregate of sound turf. Nor can it be 



