OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 143 



one of his usual rates every hound stopped, and 

 the pack were taken to the hedge side, when 

 Mr. Meynell called out three steady hounds and 

 threw them into the cover. The fox was so 

 loath to break, that the three hounds kept hunting 

 him for ten minutes, in the hearing of all the 

 pack, who lay perfectly quiet at Raven's horse's 

 feet till the fox went away over the finest part 

 of the country ; and the moment Mr. Meynell 

 gave his most energetic thrilling halloo, (which 

 has been noticed before,) every hound flew to 

 him, — the burst was the finest that any sports- 

 man ever beheld, and after an hour and ten 

 minutes they killed their fox. 



I think you will already say that my observa- 

 tions are sufficiently protracted ; yet the hunting 

 recollections, that your questions have given rise 

 to, crowd upon my memory, and I could certainly 

 give you several anecdotes of the principal hunts- 

 men in the kingdom, as you require ; but, they 

 must be reserved for a future time, when, after 

 a day of sport, you give me a corner by your 

 fireside, — both of which I think I deserve from 

 you as a grateful pupil, after so long a lecture; 

 in which I doubt not, long before this, you must 

 have thought me, hke " Old Thunder " and " Bell- 

 man," pottering on the scent ; I therefore candidly 

 tell you I am " beat " ; and as the time is almost 



