^Nimrod ' 



grass to grow over them ; but they are very inferior to the 

 others, being difficult for hounds to draw. The subscription 

 to the Quorn hounds has varied from two thousand to 

 four thousand pounds per annum ; ^ but Sir Harry Good- 

 ricke bore the whole expense of them himself. 



One of the most striking features in the aspect of the 

 chosen regions of English fox-hunting is the formidable 

 ox-fence, rendered necessary by the difficulty of keeping 

 fatting cattle within their pastures, during the season of the 

 oestrus, or gad-fly. It consists of — first, a wide ditch, then 

 a sturdy blackthorn hedge, and at least two yards beyond 

 that a strong rail, about four feet high ; to clear all these 

 obstacles, from whichever side they may be approached, 

 is evidently a great exertion for a horse. What is termed 

 the bullfinch-fence (still more common in these districts) 

 is a quickset hedge of perhaps fifty years' growth, with a 

 ditch on one side or the other, and so high and strong that 

 horses cannot clear it. The sportsman, however, charging 

 this at nearly full speed, succeeds in getting to the other 

 side, when the bushes close after him and his horse, and 

 there is no more appearance of their transit than if a 

 bird had hopped through. Horses, unaccustomed to these 

 fences, seldom face them well at first ; perhaps nothing 

 short of the emulation which animates their riders, and the 

 courage created in the noble animals themselves by the 

 presence of the hounds, would induce them to face such 



1 Sir Bellingham Graham alone received the last-named sum. That now 

 given to Mr. Errington is about two thousand five hundred pounds. 



K 145 



