OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 39 



may be done, as I observed before, in reason, 

 except turning out " a Bag man." 



The simple fact of my having had excellent 

 sport, and having received the greatest kindness 

 and support, in the counties of Essex and Sujfolk, 

 will, I hope, apologize for my giving you some 

 account of them. The hundreds of Essex, (or 

 what is called Lord Petre's side of the covnitry,) 

 are particularly good for cub hunting, on account 

 of his Lordship having preserved strictly before 

 he kept hounds himself. His property is very 

 extensive ; the woodlands extremely convenient, 

 and alwaj'S moist at the bottom in a dry autumn, 

 wliich is a great advantage ; and you can generally 

 begin cub hunting about the 20th of August. 

 For what reason, I never could rightly ascertain, 

 but the foxes in the Roothings or Rodings of 

 Essex and part of Suffolk are certainly stouter 

 than any I have met with in other countries. 

 Stub bred foxes are thought to be the stoutest, 

 and in the former places they are all bred above 

 ground ; for from Myless, near Ongar, to Bigods, 

 a covert on the other side of Dunmow, a distance 

 of nearly twenty miles, I do not know of a single 

 earth. The enclosures are large, the country flat, 

 and you can go from point to point, nine miles 

 without meeting with a single covert. From Man- 

 wood, one of the best coverts in the Roothings, 



