66 HUNTING TOURS. 



Wished love for foxhunting, which has existed 

 in Lincolnshire for many generations, would 

 alone prompt the inhabitants to use their best 

 efforts to promote sport ; but they have a still 

 further stimulus in the unbounded liberality 

 displayed by Lord Henry Bentinck in every 

 department and detail connected with the 

 establishment and its accessories. As fitting 

 acknowledgments, walks for hounds are in 

 almost unlimited profusion, and as the time 

 arrives all are anxious to receive the most 

 promising of the rising generation of fox- 

 hounds. In this, too, his lordship recipro- 

 cates with their sympathies by giving very 

 large premiums for the best puppies when re- 

 turned from their walks. The fences in this 

 country, as in most others, vary considerably 

 in magnitude ; but they are generally far apart, 

 and there is one very distinguishable feature 

 — there are no blind ditches. Many are, it is 

 true, wide and deep; horses, however, can 

 always see what they have to encounter. On 

 remarking this one day in the field to a very 

 extensive agriculturist, regarding me with ap- 

 parent surprise, he inquired what I meant by 

 a blind ditch ? and, upon rendering an expla- 

 nation, he expressed himself quite astonished 



