94 The Old Surrey Fox Hounds 



that respect. Town is pushing itself into the country, so 

 to speak. London is growing in all directions, so that to 

 enjoy the sport of good hunting anywhere near it is 

 virtually impossible. Surrey has been one of the worst 

 sufferers from that system of persistent encroachment. 



Continuing his reminiscences with no abatement of 

 interest, Sam Hills ran on, to wit : " Nor are the Surrey 

 foxes what they used to be in my time. We had then 

 plenty of good wild hill foxes, born and bred in the 

 district, taught all about it by their wily parents. They 

 were not " — he winked slightly — " put down." 



It was not necessary, however, to labour that point. 

 Suggestions of Leadenhall Market are not pleasant in this 

 connexion to a true sportsman. What is " put down," 

 faute de mieux^ we prefer to leave to the vivid imagina- 

 tion of our readers who may have had some experience 

 of the imported product. It is not likely to be very satis- 

 factory. 



" Our old hill foxes," Sam went on, " wanted a lot of 

 catching. They often ran for three hours and a half and 

 four hours. We used up a lot of horses in the course of 

 those tremendous runs. There was any amount of good 

 stiff jumping in the Oxted, Edenbridge, and Westerham 

 districts particularly. A clever hunter was required, one 

 accustomed to the country ; otherwise, if he tried to fly 

 things as in the shires, he was sure to come to grief. We 

 often had men out with us from other packs, and after 

 they had tried to reach the end of one of our long gallops 

 over a rough part of our territory, they realized what 



