THE RULE OF Mr. GEORGE LANE FOX. i8i 



'Wilstrop, and was killed. Found in Marston Whin ; ran 

 ' nicely to Wilstrop and Tockwitli, hunted back to Hutton 

 ' Thorns, then ran fast nearly to Poppleton, turned towards 

 ' Red House, and up to the left to Marston station ; into 

 ' a drain. A good run ; an hour and five minutes.' 



April was hot and dry from the commencement of the 

 month, and the season was brought to rather an early close 

 at Otley Chevin ; but after April set in sport was only poor, 

 and nothing took place worthy of record. The season was 

 a satisfactory one, taken on the whole, though frost interfered 

 considerably with sport at times. There were, however, no 

 lengthened periods of storm such as occurred a few years 

 earlier, and again a few years later. Hounds hunted one 

 hundred and nine days, were stopped by frost seventeen 

 days, killed fifty and a half brace of foxes, and ran twenty- 

 seven and a half brace to ground. 



1883-84. A late harvest and a late start with cub-hunting 

 are synonymous in a country like the Bramham Moor, and 

 there was not much'of the country cleared when Smith took 

 the old hounds to rattle Byram on the loth of September. 

 Scent, however, served well, as it generally does in the 

 Bramham country after a very wet time, and hounds did 

 well amongst the cubs, accounting for them satisfactorily.* 

 They commenced the regular season en Friday, November 

 2nd, when they met at Thorp Arch. They met with ' fog, as 

 ' usual,' to use Mr. Fox's words, but they had not much 

 scent, and spent most of the day about Cowthorpe. 



On the 2ist, when they met at the Paper Mill, they had a 

 good day, killing a leash, and running one fox to ground. 

 At first matters were not very promising, for scent was very 

 bad, and after they had marked a fox to ground in the river 

 bank, they found a second fox with whom they could do 



* During the cub -hunting season, Sir Watkin and Miss Winn visited 

 Mr. Fox, and saw a fair day's sport at Bramham Park on October 13th. 



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