SPRING WOODLANDS 453 



finding himself baulked in his scheme of planting an 

 avenue along which he might ride to London, proceeded 

 to lay out the same number of miles (seventy-three) of elm- 

 trees, in double rows, upon his own property. Of the 

 50,000 or upwards of these splendid trees, more than 

 2000 were levelled in the storm of last month, great 

 stretches of avenue being uprooted, and the whole beau- 

 tiful estate covered with desolation. Two or three years 

 at least will be required to remove the mere wreckage, 

 while the gaps can never, of course, be adequately filled. 

 It has long been an impression that the ordinary lifetime 

 of an elm is about i 50 years. Never did we expect to be 

 offered such proof of the theory as is now presented by 

 these broken avenues upon the Duke of Buccleuch's 

 Northamptonshire property. 



For Saturday, April 20, Mr. Austin Mackenzie had 

 advertised Brigstock as his meet. It was told that the 

 Cottesmore were also out, and it was rumoured that fox- 

 hunting still flickered elsewhere in the Midlands. But the 

 woodlands of Pytchleydom were our present and appro- 

 priate ground ; and were now, as I have said, to be seen 

 at their best, though nothing like the number of visitors 

 availed themselves of the opportunity that I had quite 

 expected to see. Those who had come from the west- 

 ward had for the most part sauntered thither through 

 Geddington Chase, whose lawnlike rides and flower- 

 decked coppices are now a sight of vernal and absolute 

 beauty. Lord Spencer had taken advantage of his Easter 

 recess again to look in once or twice upon country that 

 in the past has afforded him so much enjoyment hunt- 

 ing hounds — I have heard him aver, justly occupying in 

 his opinion first place among the joys of life. Besides 

 him, there were at Brigstock Mr. Fernie and Mr. Dunlop, 

 Rev. C. Legard and Mr. Bentley, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Crisp, 

 and two others of the Fitzwilliam, Mr. Hugh Owen, Mr. 

 and Mrs. Sharman, Rev. N. Nash, and perhaps two dozen 

 others. 



With these Mr. Mackenzie moved off northward, to a 

 district wherein small woods dot a pleasant country of 

 which the village of Benefield is approximately the centre. 



