[63] 



during the season, I made that place head 

 quarters for myself and hounds, and was 

 attended by many gentlemen of the hunt ; 

 the Hertfordshire hounds on those occa- 

 sions contrived to meet near to us on the 

 alternate days ; and the emulation excited 

 on the part of each hunt which should 

 shew the best sport, made it the more in- 

 teresting ; and the dinner at old Maltster's 

 (the Saracen's Head, Dunmow,) who did all 

 in his power to make us comfortable, always 

 went off cheerfully. Taking into consi- 

 deration the country altogether, it may be 

 ranked as a first rate ruralist. 



Artificial earths, I have been informed, 

 if not made in a dry situation, are often the 

 cause of foxes being mangy. I have some 

 reason to attribute it to another cause : I 

 never knew a mangy fox where the owner 

 of the covert strictly preserved, and have 

 invariably found them in the neighbour- 

 hood of those known to be inimical to Fox- 



