72 In Scarlet and Silk 



He was a veteran, and in point of freshness 

 at the finish looked like "giving points" to 

 many of the dead-beat horses which had been 

 toiling along in his wake. 



But having spoken of the poetry, let us 

 not forget the prose of stag-hunting, and I 

 cheerfully acknowledge the very real enjoy- 

 ment that has fallen to me whilst following 

 the carted animal, in various countries, good, 

 bad, and indifferent. 



The four best-known packs of staghounds 

 — the Queen's, Lord Rothschild's, the Essex, 

 and the Mid- Kent — are all within easy rail 

 of London. Roughly speaking, much of the 

 Queen's and the Essex, all of Lord Roths- 

 child's, and about half of the Kentish country, 

 is good. The Vale of Aylesbury is as near 

 perfection as possible : it is all grass, practi- 

 cally, with beautiful flying fences, over which 

 no first-rate hunter, until he tires, at least, 

 ought to come to grief. Speaking for myself, 

 I would sooner take an average run and two 

 average falls over the Vale, than the best of 

 runs, minus the tumbles, in an indifl'erent 



