270 FENCES, COUNTRY AND GATES. 



in height. This formidable obstacle derives its name 

 from the fact that the stones on its top are firmly 

 cemented together by a dash of mortar. The Masters, 

 hunting men, hunting ladies, and horses of the East 

 Galway and Blazers think nothing of " throwing a lep " 

 over a cope and dash of this kind. Ordinary second 

 flighters in the Shires would probably prefer the 

 Galway "loose stone wall " depicted in Fig. 119 or the 

 small bank shown in Fig. 120. He also tells me that 

 although there is wire in East Galway, it is used only 

 for fencing-in large spaces of ground, and as it stands 

 out alone by itself, it is no source of danger to horse or 

 rider. My husband returned to Crick delighted with 

 the people in County Galway, especially because, when 

 he went out hunting, almost everyone of the small field, 

 both ladies and men, seeing that he was a stranger, 

 were glad to meet him, and went up and spoke to him 

 in a very friendly manner. Over there, hunting is 

 evidently a sport, and not a social function. 



Fig. 121, which was very kindly taken from the top 

 of Yelvertoft Church for this book by the Rector of 

 that nice parish, gives a good idea of the country over 

 which we hunt in Northamptonshire. In that county, 

 the grass fields are smaller and the country more 

 wooded than in Leicestershire, which has the inestim- 

 able advantage of possessing so many bridle paths, that 

 people who hunt in it have very little road tramping to 

 do. Even that trying infliction is mitigated to some 

 extent in most parts of the Shires, by the presence of 

 grass on the sides of country roads, as in Fig. 122. 



