152 SPORTING REMINISCENCES [1825 to 



" Colonel Wyndham declared that, from 

 his knowledge of the country the fox went 

 over, it was the most severe run he had ever 

 heard of, and he wrote a full account of it to 

 Lord Egremont. The colonel intends trying 

 his hand some day with this gallant fox.* 



" ' On Saturday last,' adds Mr. Smith, 'Mr. 

 Mcoll brought his hounds as near as he could 

 to give me a day. We had a capital thing ; 

 two hours and forty minutes ; every horse 

 beat. jSacoll tired three !' 



" Fortune is often a little spiteful to fox- 

 hounds, and, by one turn of her wheel, she 

 spoiled the finish to Mr. Smith's run ; for had 

 he killed his fox, instead of being hallooed 

 away to a fresh one, his hounds, from the ex- 

 treme severity of the country, would have 

 been entitled to great praise. As it was, how- 

 ever, we must look upon it as a day's work 

 for hounds and horses, which, perhaps fortu- 

 nately, but rarely occurs. 



* Mr. Smith has told me that after Colonel Wyndham had made 

 them all comfortable, he left the dining-room, but returned in half an 

 hour, saying he had been to the kennel to see how the pack looked 

 after such a severe run, and that as soon as he entered the lodging 

 room every hound jumped off the benches ready to start off home ! 

 Of those who got to the end (not mentioned above) was John Sharpe, 

 one of the whips. Mr. G. Morant's horse, Cockatoo (the best he ever 

 had), never recovered from this run. Mr. Smith further adds, that 

 many inquiries were made during the night at the kennel to know if 

 the hounds had returned, especially from Hill-place, as Mr. George 

 Butler had been recently married, and the first information was on his 

 return at eleven o'clock in a post-chaise, he having wisely left his 

 hunter at the inn at Horndean. — Author. 



