52 HUNTING IN MANY COUNTRIES. 



or possibly the Milkwell Burn, which rises on the ridge near 

 Ash Tree, and reaches the Derwent a mile or so east of 

 Ebchester. From the top of the ridge on its northern side 

 another burn or brook has its spring, and reaches the Tyne 

 near Wylam; and I have heard it argued that these two 

 brooks, which to a great extent form the county boundary 

 between Northumberland and Durham, were also the 

 boundary of the two hunts. On the other hand, I have heard 

 the late Mr. Thos. Ramsay say that he used to meet at Whit- 

 tonstall, on the Watliiig Street, almost midway between the 

 Tyne and Derwent, and also at Branch End, which is many 

 miles west of Wylam. It is of little consequence now, and it 

 is also quite certain that these hunts of between seventy and 

 eighty years ago were not very particular as to their 

 boundaries, for they were very primitive affairs as compared 

 with present-day hunts, and in every way far more local than 

 are the modern establishments. By this I mean that they 

 were hardly heard of outside their own district, that their 

 following was small and greatly composed of farmers, that they 

 included no hunt clubs and did not always posisess a com- 

 mittee, that they seldom advertised, that they hunted with 

 many fewer hounds that is now considered orthodox, that they 

 invaded each other's districts almost whenever it suited them, 

 and that they knew or cared very little about the pomp and 

 circumstance of the sport. But for all that they meant busi- 

 ness, for the moving spirits were chiefly young men, many of 

 whom were hunting regularly with more pretentious and 

 better turned out packs, but who nevertheless found time to 

 harry the foxes round their homes with what Surtees — perhaps 

 very aptly described as a " cry of dogs." 



Mr. Thomas Ramsay — always called Tom — -was quite a 

 character, but more of a riding than a hunting man. I 

 remember when I was a youngster hearing him described as 

 " a devil to gallop and jump," but from what I have heard 

 he was not much of a hound man, and a veteran who^ used 

 to hunt with him used to speak of his pack as being " of all 

 sizes and shapes." Mr. Ramsay was, however, a jovial man 

 and a bit of a wag, and I was once present when he floored a 

 " nut " of the period in fine style. The incident happened a 

 great many years ago, long after Mr. Ramsay had given up 



