HUNTING TOURS. 383 



Mr. Cripps taking the active management. 

 This continued five seasons, when Mr. Ville- 

 bois was inaugurated in office, and with an 

 ample purse and generous spirit that gentle- 

 man hunted the country in superlative style 

 till the spring of 1854, when Lord Gifford — 

 who, soon after his resignation, formed 

 another pack, with which in succession he 

 hunted the Ludlow country, the flinty regions 

 of the H. H., and the rough woodlands of 

 Herefordshire — returned once more to the 

 Elysian fields of the Vale of White Horse. 

 This arrangement continued only three seasons. 

 Lord Gilford's habits and plucky energetic 

 spirit, augmented by the excitement of hunting 

 his own hounds, would probably have overcome 

 his constitution ; he was therefore induced 

 to withdraw from the M. F. H. list, and enjoy 

 the sport with other hounds. 



After much persuasion, Mr. Croome was 

 induced to undertake the responsibilities ; 

 how admirably he has fulfilled the sanguine 

 expectations of his friends is best determined 

 by the excellence of the sport the hounds 

 have had under his manao^ement. It is gene- 

 rally a most difficult matter to obtain the 

 services of a gentleman who is a resident in 



