Lord Fitzhardinge's. 347 



LORD FITZHARDINGE'S.* 



The immense area over whidi the representatives of 

 the Berkeley family had in the last century exercised 

 the right of hunting, viz._, from Bristol to the Marble 

 Arch — has piece by piece been relinquished till the 

 late Lord Fitzhardinge narrowed his scene of opera- 

 tions to a manageable four-days-a-week country — the 

 pith of which is the very narrow vale down the eastern 

 bank of the Severn, as it flows from Tewkesbury to 

 Bristol. If this lengthy vale (nearly fifty miles) could 

 but be brought into a compact area, Lord Fitzhardinge 

 would possess in it one of the finest of all foxhunting 

 countries — nearly all fine-scenting grass, level, 

 temptingly fenced, and thoroughly preserved for the 

 sport. The single drawback to the Berkeley Yale, as 

 it now stands, is its slender width. Confined as it is 

 between the Severn and the hills (continuations of the 

 Cotswold) it has nowhere south of Gloucester a 

 breadth of more than four or, at the outside, five 

 miles. A good fox is oflP to the hills and woods like a 

 shot ; only a bad and shortrunning one remains in the 

 vale. A straight one that will run up or down the 



Vide Stanford's "Hunting Map," Sheet 14, and Hobsons 

 Foxhunting Atlas. 



