THE RULE OF Mr. GEORGE LANE FOX. 83 



The sheep-dog had evidently only anticipated matters ; 

 and the incident of the men on the engine giving the dead 

 fox up on the hounds making their appearance, is only 

 another instance of that sporting spirit which pervades all 

 ranks of society in Yorkshire. A bad scenting season was 

 brought to an end at Bishop Woods on April 14th, where 

 they found and killed a three-legged fox. 



1863-64. Harvest was early this year, and hounds were 

 enabled to make a start three weeks sooner than they had 

 done in the preceding season. Most of the corn was cut in 

 August ; and they commenced on the 31st at Bramham Park, 

 finding a rare show of cubs in Blackfen, and though the 

 morning was a hot one, and scent was wretched, they 

 managed to get hold of a cub. They got hold of a fair 

 number of cubs, and we find the remarks, ' No scent, but 

 'good hunting,' and 'No scent,' with frequency. Sport during 

 November continued to be indifferent ; but the month wound 

 up well, as the following extract from the diary proves : — 



'November 30th. Scholes. Found in Temple Newsam, ran to 

 'ground. Found again, went away quick, leaving Garforth 

 ' on the left, to the lime-pits, ran to ground in a rabbit- 

 'hole, dug, and killed. Bolted another fox out of the 

 'same place, hunted him slowly by Garforth, Borraby ; left 

 ' Seacroft on the right, to Temple Newsam, across the park, 

 ' through Belmont Wood, over by Halton, nearly to Killing- 

 ' beck. Gave him up in the dark.' 



Those whose hunting experience is a long one will have 

 found in the course of it that occasionally in a bad scenting 

 season, when one bad day's sport succeeds another, — when a 

 brilliant gallop is almost unknown, and when the best that we 

 can come across is a fair hunting run, — that one or two runs 

 of exceptional brilliancy, — runs which go to the making of 

 history, and which would even grace the best season on 

 record, — take place. They also occasionally take place on a 



