A WEEK AT MELTON 51 



for many reasons is very great. Mr. Fernie does not 

 always hunt on that day, and, if he does, is on the 

 side of his country least favoured by his more ambitious 

 followers. The Cottesmore people who live along the 

 border come across as a matter of course, and that is 

 one of the attractions of a house at Somerby, while 

 Leicester also is within reach. Once on a time Leicester 

 was a hunting centre. It is so no longer, and if it 

 turns out some excellent sportsmen it also sends out a 

 motley throng, carriages, char-a-banc (locally cherry- 

 bang), carts, bicycles, and an occasional motor. Not 

 less than live or six hundred people will turn out, and, 

 although it may be said that when hounds really run 

 the crowd is scattered and the best men come here as 

 elsewhere by their own places, yet the fox is a timid 

 animal, and the fox-hound an excitable one, so that 

 many a run is nipped in the bud. 



There was something to be said for the plan of the 

 sportsman who galloped across country to the meet — 

 that was in old days and would not be allowed now — 

 but never really rode till the afternoon had thinned off 

 the crowd. Putting aside the fact that scent on bright 

 days is often better in the evening, particularly on the 

 grass, the hounds and fox, not to speak of the hunts- 

 man, have a better chance in the afternoon than in the 

 morning. And yet, allowing for all disadvantages, the 

 people who come out with the Quom on a Friday are 

 in the right of it. Is there in the length and breadth 

 of the Shires a country more perfectly adapted to the 

 sport ? Does not the brilliancy of the too brief gallop 

 over that springy turf, when the good horse gives one 

 the sensation of flight as he strides over his fences, 

 make up for many disappointments ? 



But let us turn to consider the country more in 

 detail. The river Wreake is its northern and western 



