FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 3 



them all their lives, the term signifies the country round 

 Melton. This is the cream of Leicestershire, and many 

 people never go outside its boundaries for their sport. 

 It is a country not only of grass, but of wide pastures, 

 where there is plenty of room for a horse to extend 

 himself between his fences, where the turf is old and 

 sound, well drained and seldom really deep, except in 

 the wettest seasons. As a rule the going is perfect. 

 A springy green carpet under the horse's feet enables 

 him to lift himself as it were from a spring-board over 

 fences that would otherwise be impracticable, for these 

 are meant to keep in bullocks that can jump as well 

 as many horses, and that will bore through any ordi- 

 nary fence. These districts are very stiff in places. 

 On the Welham flats, for example, and in parts of 

 the Harborough country the fences are nearly or quite 

 impracticable, but in the cream of the Melton country 

 they are not so big but that a bold horse well ridden 

 can gallop over them. Any day you may see twenty 

 or thirty men and women riding over any part of 

 Leicestershire that is practicable and giving the lead 

 to sixty or seventy others, some of whom are nearly 

 as good. In proportion to the number of people who 

 hunt falls are not numerous, and the results are not 

 so often serious as in other countries. 



In this district, most of the coverts are small and 

 artificial. They are carefully placed so as to link 

 together the best stretches of country, and to lead the 

 chase over the most favoured tracts of grass. Let us 

 imagine, for example, that the Pytchley find a fox in 

 Kilworth Sticks. From thence they might run him 

 to Walton Holt, to Bosworth Gorse, Mowsley New 

 Covert, John Ball, Wistow, over the railroad to Norton 

 Gorse, from thence to Botany Bay, and to ground at 

 John O'Gaunt. This is not a likely run, of course. 



