56 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



at it. Mr. Assheton Smith did not ; I never could see 

 that Tom Firr did ; and Arthur Thatcher just takes 

 any fence as it comes. 



There is another famous covert in this part of the 

 hunt, the Prince of Wales' Gorse. It may be a second 

 or later draw from some other fixture, or we may 

 begin the day with it from Baggrave Hall, where not 

 so very long ago General Burnaby was wont to receive 

 the hunt with hospitality. Prince of Wales' Gorse was 

 planted by the present King in 1871, and it has held 

 foxes ever since it reached maturity. I saw it drawn 

 three times, if not more, on one afternoon in Lord 

 Lonsdale's mastership, and each time Firr came away 

 with a fox. It is a stirring sight to see a big Quorn 

 field start from the top side of the covert when a fox 

 goes away to South Croxton. The chances here are 

 everywhere in favour of a short gallop and a merry 

 one, but there may be a longer run, as some five-and- 

 twenty years ago, from the gorse near Barkby to 

 Tilton, an almost ideal line for a fox-chase. 



Farther away towards the Cottesmore borderland is 

 Lowesby HaU, in the dining-room of which Lord 

 Waterford performed the famous feat of riding his horse 

 over the table. Then there is John o' Gaunt, not now 

 perhaps quite what it was before it gave its name to 

 a railway junction. It is not the easiest of coverts to 

 start from. The hunt is generally gathered in a field 

 with the covert in front and to the right an impassable 

 fence filled by a narrow bridle gate, which soon becomes 

 jammed with the pushing crowd. There is a way 

 round to the left, but it takes time which can ill be 

 spared if hounds run, yet there is generally a chance, 

 for, when I have been there, the pack has seldom been 

 able to start quite at once. There is a line from here 

 to Owston Wood or Tilton which is quite practicable 



