ii6 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



observe that the huntsman and all the field turned 

 away from the line of the hounds into a road, but 

 supposing this was to avoid a wide place I was not 

 sorry to be left alone with a pulling horse. I soon 

 perceived the cause of their taking to the road from 

 a bank of earth rather recently thrown up, but this 

 same bank prevented me from seeing exactly what I 

 was coming to or its width, but seeing Goodall and 

 those of the field who were parallel with me in the 

 road turn in their saddles to observe what I should 

 do, I concluded it was a wide place and therefore, 

 selecting a portion of the bank which seemed sounder 

 than the rest, I put ' Cognac ' smartly at it for the 

 honour of Essex, and he cleared the whole superbly, 

 alighting right on the top of the bank of earth on 

 its opposite side, causing Goodall to exclaim, ' Well 

 done.' It proved to be a regular Lincolnshire dyke, 

 with the width and difficulty much increased by 

 having been recently cleared out and the earth thrown 

 up on both sides. It certainly was a place to startle 

 weak nerves, for I could see when crossing it that 

 the sides were perpendicular and about ten or twelve 

 feet deep, so that there would have been little chance 

 of getting out in the event of a mistake." * We 

 shall all agree that the honour of Essex was well 

 sustained on this occasion, and our assent will be 

 all the warmer if we have had any close acquaint- 

 ance with Lincolnshire dykes. The same rider met 

 many stiles and rails just as any one would do to-day ; 

 indeed here, as I believe almost everywhere in the 

 Shires, a timber jumper is a necessity. 



There was in days gone by a very popular, if some- 

 what eccentric, visitor to Melton, Captain Mickle- 

 thwaite, who was rather noted for his exploits in the 



* " Leaves from a Hunting Diary in Esse.x," p. 337. 



