52 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



boundary ; the Leicester and Uppingham road is the 

 southern. The river and the rail are real limits, and 

 foxes do but seldom cross them ; but on the east the 

 way is open into the Cottesmore country, and the 

 Quorn and the Cottesmore harry the foxes backwards 

 and forwards, between the Friday country of one and 

 the Tuesday country of the other, with considerable 

 frequency. Curiously enough, though I cannot exactly 

 say why, the excursions to or from Mr. Fernie's country 

 are less frequent and shorter when they occur. 



The visitor's first Friday at Melton will recall the 

 vivid description given by Nimrod of the bustle of 

 preparation. First, the horses starting for the meet — 

 and there will be many more of these than in Nimrod's 

 time with side-saddles. The neat grooms are riding 

 one and leading another, and jogging steadily on to 

 the meeting-place, which we will suppose to be Scrap- 

 toft. An hour or so later the masters and mistresses 

 of the horses will begin to follow, some of the former 

 on smart polo ponies ; and the ride to covert is not 

 one of the least delightful features of the day's per- 

 formance. The roads in Leicestershire run for the 

 most part through the fields, and the stranger will do 

 well to have a guide, for the geography of the place is 

 not easily learned. Sign-posts it is true there are, but, 

 having embarked on a bridle road, it is no easy matter 

 to take the most direct course, as Mr. Sawyer in fiction 

 and Mr. Vickerman in fact, found to their cost. The 

 latter, for twenty years secretary to the Essex stag- 

 hounds, paid a visit to Melton in 1846, and, riding to 

 covert, got " completely bewildered in the great grass 

 grounds of High Leicestershire, rising in undulating 

 swells in all directions around me with few trees and 

 sprinkled over with cattle and sheep, but not a living 

 soul within ken." Then he met a woman, and received 



