THE BROCKLESBY. 91 



Forest and Geddington Chase, in the Pytchley country, and in the 

 remains of Merry Sherwood in Nottinghamshire. In fact, so 

 good are the ridings that they have successfully been used as 

 training ground, and more than one Grand National winner 

 has taken his breathings in the neighbourhood of Limber. 

 It is, however, in a hunting sense that they are remarkable, as 

 here young hounds can be got to work in early autumn, let the 

 ground be as hard as it may ; and I know of no prettier sight 

 than to see them rattle a cub about these beautiful woodlands. 

 I have alluded to one excellence of the country, id est, the 

 thin population ; but I must admit that there are drawbacks, 

 and that the springy, elastic turf, over which those who hunt 

 in the Midlands are wont to ride, is almost, if not altogether, 

 wanting. On the other hand, in those parts called the Wolds, 

 at any rate, the enclosures are large, the ploughs ride light, and 

 the fences are generally of a description that a blood-like, reach- 

 ing horse, which you must have to live with these hounds, can 

 take them in his stride. Here, as far as my experience goes, 

 the coverts are not large as a rule ; but some of them are ex- 

 ceedingly thick, being well supplied with what in the south of 

 England are known as " lawyers " (Anglice, brambles), which in- 

 terfere very much with hounds. The low parts of the country 

 are divided by big drains of the sort which are to be met with 

 in Holderness ; and as the ground is deep and nearly all plough, 

 I need not add that they take more than an ordinary amount of 

 getting over. In fact, this is a deceiving country to a man who 

 is not well horsed, or whose nerve is not quite in the right place, 

 unless he knows every inch of it ; for, after going in comparative 

 ease and comfort for a time over light fences, he will, perchance, 

 sink a bottom, to find there is a drain, ditch, brook, or whatever 

 he may choose to call it, that must be jumped clean and clear, if 

 he is to keep his place with hounds, and, moreover, that it 

 requires a hunter to do it. 



In the low parts I have spoken of, these come at such short 

 intervals, that a nervous man would have anything but a 



