CHAP. II.] Lord Spencer s Racers^ and SJiootiug. 4 



J 



say goodbye to his old home. A judge fuU on the 

 black cap before sentencing his victim to death, a whip 

 talies oj|f' his. Isaac's cap was seen to be raised aloft, the 

 end of as stout-hearted a fox as ever stood before hounds 

 was known to be near. In a few minutes little was left 

 of an animal who had fairly earned for himself the 

 monumental inscription, '^ In life respected_, in death 

 regretted.''^ 



It was in a gallop from this covert that H.R.H. the 

 Prince of Wales seemed on the point of sharing with 

 the roach and dace the secrets of the Spratton Brook ; 

 and from here_, late on a November afternoon, few re- 

 maining to share in the gallop, a '^ stranger '' from 

 Sywell Wood just got home in time to save his life 

 from Captain Austruther Thomson's hounds. For some 

 time before the end the song of all except the fox had 

 been : 



" Shades of evening close not o'er us, 

 Leave us quite alone awhile." 



and the way out of one field into another had been difficult 

 to find ; but it was not until the field adjoining the 

 wood had been reached that the master gave the 

 order to stop the hounds. It was fondly hoped that on 

 the next '' diawing '' of Sywell Wood, the same fox 

 might retrace his steps on a return journey to the covert 

 from whence he had so lately been driv:en; but he was 

 never found again. 



Like others of his neighbours, Lord Spencer had a 

 decided leaning to the turf, and availed himself of the 

 beautiful paddocks at Harleston to make some experi- 

 ments in breeding. A mare, named " Wryneck,'' from 

 an accident in her stall which caused her neck to be 



