CHAPTER XI. 



On the Flags and in the Show Ring. 



' How gay they bustled round him ; 

 How gallantly they found him ; 

 And how stealthily they wound him 

 O'er each brake and woody dell. 



' Oh ! how they sped together, 

 O'er the moor, among the heather. 

 Like birds of the same feather. 

 And their music like a bell.' 



A History of the Bramham Moor Hunt would be incom- 

 plete without some reference to the hounds, which, in the 

 kennel and in the field, have had a world-wide reputation 

 for upwards of a century and a half. Unfortunately there 

 is not much to be gleaned about individual hounds during 

 the earlier years of the Hunt. One of the earliest hounds 

 of which I can learn anything is Ringwood, Lord Yarborough's 

 Ruler — Bonnymaid, a narrow snipy-nosed blue-pied hound, 

 that was a wonder in his work, and remarkably stout. He 

 ran at the head of the pack for ten seasons, and when he 

 was well advanced in years he led them over Saxton field 

 at a great pace, never speaking.* His blood went into the 



* Captain Fo.x tells me that Ringwood had plenty of cry, so that this would 



seem lo have been a special occasion. 



