HUNTS AND THEIR HISTORY 129 



who succeeded Mr. Meynell in 1800, reaped where 

 the latter had sown, and, with Jack Raven and 

 Stephen Goodall as huntsmen, showed great sport. 

 By the time Lord Sefton became master the country 

 had already altered from the earlier wild, unenclosed 

 country, and the foxes too were stout. The ox- 

 fences and bullfinches now made their appearance, 

 and artificial coverts were plentiful. As the fences 

 taxed the horses more, second horses were introduced. 

 The distances covered by the hounds were much 

 greater in Mr. Meynell's day than they are now, and 

 while the country was still open, it was much if a 

 man could tell where he would dine and sleep when 

 he started in the morning. 



In Lord Sefton's time — and the same may be said 

 of the two seasons of his successor. Lord Foley — the 

 pace increased, the runs were more often circular, 

 and foxes began to run from one to another of the 

 small coverts. As much time as formerly might 

 indeed be occupied in the chase, but the point between 

 start and finish was much shorter. Then came Mr. 

 Assheton Smith, whose fame as a horseman has some- 

 what eclipsed his reputation as a huntsman. But he 

 was always with his hounds. No fence stopped him 

 in the chase or hindered him from making a cast. 

 Wide and bold casts were the characteristics of his 

 handling of the pack, and the same system was fol- 

 lowed by Mr. Osbaldeston. " Nimrod " comments on 

 the way these two great masters of the sport hunted 

 a fox, and his words are as true to-day as they were 

 a hundred years ago. " Quickness of decision is the 

 life and soul of fox-hunting. A fox instantly recovered 

 is worth recovering in Leicestershire with two hundred 

 men in the field. The stumbling upon him by the 

 time he has got two miles ahead of the pack is only 



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