MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 159 



spirit to embark on such an enterprise ; fewer still 

 would have kept it going for three seasons. 



But if, from the circumstances of the case, foxes 

 were not too plentiful in Mr. Studd's first season east 

 of the Exe, hospitality was abundant, and the 

 interest and goodwill of the landowners and others 

 were testified by the number of hunt breakfasts given 

 at different places of meeting, though all were not on 

 the scale of magnificence of Mr. Rolle, who enter- 

 tained some two hundred and fifty people on the 

 first occasion of hounds meeting at Bicton. These 

 functions have now gone out of fashion, but there is 

 no doubt that indirectly they tended to promote the 

 popularity of the sport, although the keen hands 

 were wont to grumble at the " waste of time " — 

 usually after they had satisfied their own require- 

 ments in the way of chicken and champagne. 



Despite the uncertainty of finding, whenever a fox 

 was forthcoming the hounds gave a good account of 

 themselves, and, taking the three seasons throughout, 

 much excellent sport was enjoyed in the new country. 



The particulars of such sport hardly come within 

 the scope of the present work, which purports rather 

 to deal with the doings within the limits of the South 

 Devon country proper. One day, however, the 17th 

 January, 1889, may be mentioned, when, after meet- 

 ing at Four Cross Ways, Hembury Fort, they ran a 

 fox right away to the Wellington Monument and 

 earthed him in the dark on Holcombe Farm in the 

 parish of Hemyock after two hours and forty-six 

 minutes. It was nearly midnight before some of 

 those who were at the finish reached their homes, and 

 doubtless the hunt staff were among the latest. Before 

 this run, the hounds had had a very fast forty-five 

 minutes to ground with another fox. 



