220 THE CREAM OF LE[OESTERSHIRE. [Season 



But away again soon for the village of "WTiissendine, past it 

 (at a good hunting pace) nearly to Eanksboro', and round close 

 to the Punchbowl. At the plantation known as Wheathills, 

 there were two, if not three, foxes before them ; their run fox, 

 dead beat, just eluded them, and hounds went on with another. 

 Him they ran through Berry Gorse again, past Burton, and to 

 gi'ound half way between Melton and Great Dalby — 07ie hour 

 and Jifty -three minutes of a continuous hunting run. The early 

 part had been as fast and exhilarating as need be ; and most of 

 it was done at a gallop, over the pleasantest grass country 

 imaginable. 



A NORTH WARWICKSHIRE CORNER. 



Thuksday, January 17th. 



At Hilmorton Village, that men might hunt before they 

 danced. A good run has often marked the day of the Rugby 

 Hunt Ball ; but I at least never saw the date better celebrated 

 than to-day; and, if huntmg gives way to other topics to- 

 night, it will and must burst out wherever doorways have their 

 tenants, walls their idlers, or the supper-room its devotees. 

 It takes more than even dancing, more than even the grand 

 passion, to knock a great gallop with hounds out of the 

 thoughts of men, in whose minds its enchantment is still 

 fresh. 



Hounds came by train ; so did the Master ; and so did a 

 strong proportion of the field — from Leamington, Coventry, 

 Birmingham and elsewhere. Little time was given them to 

 collect at the meet ; and thus many of them only reached 

 Hilmorton Covert as hoUoas were resounding from each side 

 and each corner. 



Hilmorton Covert, readers who are strange to this part of 

 the Midlands, is a five -or- six- acre thicket situated on a low 

 grassy flat, almost midway between the Pytchley Coverts of 



