WEEK AT MARKET HARBOROUGH 83 



or how bold your horse may be, for this is a country 

 that requires to be known. Where the bridge is that 

 crosses the ravine, where the hand gate in the im- 

 practicable fence, and where the road is barred by 

 wire are pieces of knowledge that may prevent the 

 loss of a good run. Then, as you jog back at night 

 (and the probabilities are in favour of your having 

 little or no more distance to traverse on your return 

 than when you rode out in the morning), you will 

 probably reflect that, in spite of some serious draw- 

 backs, there are few better countries to hunt over 

 than this comer of Northamptonshire, The draw- 

 backs are that the villages are rather too close, the 

 sheep dogs too many, and sometimes the latter are 

 used for the purpose of turning the fox away from 

 land where he is not welcome. There is some wire 

 too, and the crowd has already been spoken of. Of 

 possible remedies for these ills I have written else- 

 where, and, having conducted my hunting friend back 

 to his pleasant quarters at the " Angel " at Harborough 

 or wherever else he may be staying, I leave him to 

 think over the sport of the past day and to anticipate 

 the pleasures of the morrow. For to the Market 

 Harborough hunting man, be he resident or visitor, 

 Thursday has always been the day of the week to 

 look forward to. 



The memory of most people now hunting hardly 

 goes back beyond Mr. Tailby's Thursdays, when the 

 Master and Frank Goodall showed such marvellous 

 sport over this country and gave Market Harborough 

 for a time all the fashion of Melton. But, as a matter 

 of fact, long before that time this particular tract 

 of high Leicestershire was already famous for sport. 

 The country lies to the north and east of the old 

 coach road from Market Harborough to Leicester. It 



