144 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Seasu.v 



THE WEEK OF THE SEASON. 



Tl'ESDAY, JaM'ARY 26111. 



Neither the fatigue of the clay, nor the pleasant Lissitude 

 usual to hunting men after a second cigar and a manifold 

 repetition of all that has just passed, must hinder me from 

 jotting down at once -what has happened with the Cottesmore. 

 All has been sport this week, in one phase or another. Sport 

 was in the air in a predetermined unmistakable shape as we 

 rode to covert this morning. A pure crisp cloudless atmo- 

 sphere raised " What a hunting da}- ! " from every tongue — 

 even from the most chippy or unprescient. And so it turned 

 out. There was a scent upon which a pack of Pomeranians 

 (the most unsporting specimens of the race canine that I 

 know) could have run, and in whicli the Cottesmore bitches 

 simply revelled. The meet was advertised for Knossington ; 

 and so the hounds met in the meadow below the Hall, while 

 the field — and a field of noblest quality and proportion — met 

 in Mr. Duncan's dining room, and there prepared themselves 

 for the serious business of the day. This day was to be 

 devoted to the woodlands. Tell me, unbiassed and experienced 

 reader, what do 3'ou attach to the prospect of Owston AVood, 

 Launde Wood, Tilton Wood, and such other wild sylvan re- 

 sorts ? Do you not connect the names with harassing hoiu's 

 of idleness, with man}" bitter disappointments, and many 

 futile vows of future abstinence from thus tempting fate? 

 But, on the other hand, do you not also connect it with many 

 a grand hunt— of the wildest, truest, and most sporting type — 

 when you only see good men ride, over a country where there 

 is reall}' room for hundreds to compete ? To-day, too, the best 

 of foxes did all they could to show out the advantages of a 

 lovely scenting day, and to point out the beauties of a country 

 that in its own way has no rival. One of them chose out the right 

 side of Owston at starting ; and with him was enacted a twenty 

 minutes' ring that asked for condition and made good blood a 



