402 I 888. 



into details. Suffice it to say that tlie season 

 is over, and, though we have had considerable 

 fun, and many good days, to be thankful for, 

 it has been, on the whole, a bad season, and 

 must, to both Master and Huntsman, have 

 been one of considerable disappointment, owing 

 to the very dry weather, which, in the Vale, 

 always means a want of scent ; the rain, which 

 has happily come now, bodes good to the 

 farmer, but has hastened the end of our sport, 

 for the soft ground, springing crops, and rolled 

 fields would not be improved by the trampling 

 of hunters' hoofs. Ned Teece, our excellent 

 First Whip, has had his last ride in that 

 capacity, as he gains his step and goes as 

 Huntsman to the South Staffordshire, where 

 he carries with him the good wishes of all 

 who have known him here. 



This season, including also the Master's 

 Wednesdays and Saturdays, all of which are 

 not recorded, resulted in the death of seventy- 

 eight and a half brace of foxes. 



