124 THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



March, during the season of 1816 and 1817, when 

 the quiet village of Guilsborough was aroused from its 

 accustomed tranquillity by the cry of the Pytchley 

 hounds, at that time the property of Lord Althorp ; 

 they had run their fox, after a most brilliant burst of 

 fifty minutes, from Northcote's gorse up to the gardens 

 which surround the village, and amongst a most hete- 

 rogenious mass of coblers, tailors, and snobs of every 

 grade, and curs of low degree, they killed him. Not 

 having far to run from the house of my tutor, I was 

 lucky enough to be " in my place" at " the finish," and 

 by the joint assistance of a large stick and a few kicks 

 from the hobnails of a yokel, the fox was saved, and I 

 bore him away in triumph into the middle of the next 

 field. But where are the horsemen ? Where is Chas. 

 King ? Where is Jack Wood ? Where is Mr, Bou- 

 verie ? Where is Vere Isham ? Where is Davy ? cum 

 multis aliis, in the middle of Naseby Field, lost in a 

 fog, and floundering their way through those far- 

 famed/eceptacles for beaten horses, the Naseby Bogs.* 

 Why the fox has been killed these ten minutes ! But 

 here comes one in a cap ; it's Jack Wood first ; and in 

 ten more minutes come " the field." It was a good run, 

 and a good finish — all were delighted, and none more 

 so than he who on that day gained his " first brush." 



It was under the keen eye and by the quick dis- 

 cerning judgment of Jack Wood, that the far-famed 

 Warwickshire pack, then the property of Mr. Shirley, 

 was first formed, in a great measure from hounds 

 esteemed, by good judges, of the very best blood in 

 England ; besides the progeny of several brood bitches 



* The celebrated Dick Knight is reported to have left no fewer than five dead 

 horses, killed in runs over Nageby field. 



