1872—73.] A WOLD DAY WITH THE QUORN. 91 



A WOLD DAY WITH THE QUORN. 



On Monday, Feb. 10, the Avind was no warmer, but the 

 ground had been cleared and softened sufficiently to allow of 

 hunting with the Quorn at Widmerpool New Inn — which, by- 

 the-bye, is fully as venerable an edifice as most hostelries 

 calling themselves " New Inns." There is what is known as 

 the grass side of Widmerpool, meaning the Curate and Parson 

 coverts and their neighbourhood; and there is the Nottingham 

 side, where Roelioe, Kinoulton, et hoc genus omiie, open out a 

 corner of Leicestershire so unlike the rest of this favoured 

 county that at some period or other it cannot but have fallen 

 under such a ban as Burns pronounces : — 



Stern Euin's ploughshare drive elate 



Full on thy bloom, 

 Till crush'd beneath the furrow's weight 



Shall be thy doom ! 



In a very dry season this latter division meets even with some 

 slight commendation, on account of the scent-carrying proj^er- 

 ties of the ground, and the coverts generally attract a good 

 supply of foxes, which are well taken care of. But in ordinary 

 seasons it is not beloved of those who hmit in a grass country 

 for a grass country's sake ; while in a season like the present 

 one it is held in thorough dread — I was going to say abomina- 

 tion, but that would not be true, with memory still fresh as to 

 the samples of sterling sport that have been obtained therein. 

 Many good runs have been seen in this plebeian-looking region 

 — e.g., the thii'ty-five minutes with the mangey little animal that 

 fairly raced away from Mr. Muster's Quorn pack two years 

 ago — yes, and there was a goodly measure of sport over — or 

 through — it to-day, even if it was not of a sensational 

 nature. 



Hounds were scarcel}' in Kinoulton Gorse before a fox 

 essayed to take them straight back the way they had come ; 

 but, findmg this impossible in the face of the aj)proaching field, 

 now turned his attention to choking them oif in the mud on the 



