338 HUNTING TOURS. 



impetus to their industry being graciously 

 promoted by royal and aristocratic patronage, 

 or whether it was a combination of both, I 

 am unable to determine, but on no other 

 occasion have I ever witnessed so vast an 

 assemblage of happy faces. Surely all the 

 inhabitants must have congregated on the 

 spot, and Lady Godiva might have ridden 

 through the city without any apprehension of 

 encountering Peeping Toms. The road from 

 the place of meeting to Stivechall, the first 

 covert drawn, a distance of about two miles, 

 was densely crowded with pedestrians, nearly 

 one-third of whom were females ; and it is 

 but due to them all, to mention the strict 

 order and decorum they observed. I could 

 readily sympathise with the worthy master of 

 the hounds in his anxiety for the safety of his 

 pack as they proceeded through such a 

 crowd on their way to Stivechall ; but it 

 was a needless apprehension, all on the route 

 opened their ranks to enable them to pass 

 without the slightest interruption. The covert 

 is of no great extent, and being completely 

 surrounded by foot people, the fox found 

 in it had no chance of escape. To do so 

 he made several attempts, but the hounds 



