170 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



knows. The late Lord Charles Russell said truly : 

 " The pack that stops the least goes quickest, and 

 the one that carries most head and has the greatest 

 number of line hunters will be gaining on their fox, 

 while the one that might shine for a short time on 

 a catchy scent will be getting farther and farther 

 behind at the first check." How true this is we see 

 every day in the grass countries, and there is a strong 

 conviction among some masters and huntsmen that 

 to have sport hounds must hunt more perhaps than 

 they have been permitted to do at times in certain 

 hunts within the last twenty years. Nose and tongue, 

 which Mr. Langham tried for, are as necessary in 

 the Pytchley country as in Berkshire or Hampshire. 

 Sir Herbert's mastership was a brilliant period in 

 the history, and his resignation was regretted, for 

 he, like Lord Spencer, was a man of the Shire. Of 

 Mr. W. H. Wroughton I have already written. The 

 present master is Lord Annaly, who is known as a 

 hard rider and is making a name for himself as a 

 judge of hound work. 



The nature of the Pytchley country is well summed 

 up by Whyte-Melville in a letter to Colonel Anstruther 

 Thomson, " You know the pros and the cons of the 

 Pytchley as well as I do. It has the best woodlands in 

 the world. You can hunt from August to May, both 

 inclusive, as they say. The disadvantage is the crowd 

 on a Wednesday (that was in 1864), which you know 

 from your experience with the Atherstone does not 

 do half the mischief it appears as if it ought to do. 

 If there is a scent, it is soon disposed of." On this 

 Mr. Nethercote comments truthfully, " Given a scent, 

 a real runaway scent, and in four minutes or less after 

 a fox has broken cover five hundred horsemen will 

 in no way affect the character of a run. The entourage 



