230 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Skasox 



but admire the courage that refuses to yiekl to any such 

 trial. 



But this is not histor}-. Friday's was a run of which every- 

 one seemed bent on making the most — and by reason of 

 its jumps more than all else. They glanced and darted, 

 aiul buzzed round the pack as it bored its Avay rapidly 

 for half an hour. "When it finally worked back to Baggrave, 

 all were unanimous in i)raise of these thirty minutes, 

 which all had, in <nie fashion or another, been able to see 

 throughout. 



Their fox was almost in view as they re-entered Baggrave 

 Spinney ; but he was quicker through than they were. They 

 limited him on beyond for more than another half hour, 

 when darkness prevented their following him into Barkby 

 Holt. 



On Monday last (Feb. 11th) they (the Quorn) were at Six 

 Hills ; and the substance of the day lay in a sharp and hot six- 

 teen or seventeen minutes from Walton Thorns to Cossington 

 Gorse, over a blind but by no means unsporting country. The 

 hunt continued afterwards for a mile or two, to Sileby — near 

 which village a gully perforated with rabbit holes ended the 

 jmrsuit. Whether the blinding sun or the blindness of the 

 ditches had most to do Avitli the extraordinary number of falls 

 during the dny, ask some of the dozen gallant ladies and gentle- 

 men who at the same moment were running abcmt on foot in the 

 parish of Batcliffe-on-the-Wreake. You will scarcely credit 

 me, perhaps ; but from recent observation I am decidedly of 

 opinion that the foir sex in butcher-boots is more nimble, and 

 certuinl}' more graceful, in footing it across a deep fallow than 

 fellow sportsmen in tops. The onl}' really disastrous fall I 

 heard of was tliat which came to the lot of Lord James 

 Douglas — his horse putting his foot into a nev/ly made drain 

 when galloping across an open field. It is said that he fell, un- 

 observed by anyone and shaken senseless, when the sun was 

 shining brightly, and woke to find a labourer standing over him 

 by the light of the moon. Though chilled and bruised, he 



