1S25.] OF HAMPSHIRE. 115 



and he found his fox (which he jocosely told 

 me he had kept for me) in a corner of Famber 

 Forest, and killed him handsomely at Lord 

 Bolton's — eight miles as the crow flies — so 

 beaten, that he laid down before the hounds. 

 This sharp and decisive thing was just what 

 Mr. Chute wished on this day, as several 

 strangers were in the field. There were two 

 of the best performers of the H. H., Mr. W. 

 Gage, brother to Lord Gage, and Mr. J|J r - ^ a s e » 

 E. Knight, as well as Sir John Cope, Knight. 

 and one of his bruisers (Mr. Simmonds), with 

 him, all of whom had an opportunity of try- 

 ing their nerve over this strongly enclosed 

 country. 



" Mr. Gage (who, I observed, was mounted 

 on a horse that I had ridden last year, and won 

 some hunters' stakes with, beating nine others) 

 told me he never rode over more awkward 

 fences for horses not quite cm fait at them, 

 having banks to creep upon, with wide and 

 deep ditches, and plenty of them. 



" Of Mr. Chute's pack and his country I shall 

 have something to say another time. He has 

 been a master of hounds ever since he was a 

 boy, and of fox-hounds for more than thirty- 

 two years, and therefore claims a place in the 

 history of hunting countries. In allusion to 



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