CHAP. IV.] M7\ G. Payne. 129 



from their lair, of making hard all for the Bicester 

 country, and on many a Saturday night, nine o^clock 

 had struck before the wearied hounds had reached their 

 kennels at Brixworth. ^^ Crick Goi'se," formed in 1817, 

 and "Waterloo/' which came into existence about the 

 same time, have from their relative merits been the most 

 popular of the Pytchley coverts ; while in point of anti- 

 quity " Yelvertof t Fieldside " lays claims to precedence 

 over all its fellows. For many a year, neither " Crick'' 

 nor " Waterloo '^ was in higher favour than " Misterton 

 Gorse;'"' but latterly, either the virtue has gone out of 

 the foxes that frequent these strongholds, or the enor- 

 mous fields in the first part of the day prevent the possi- 

 bility of sport. Amid many fine runs with George Payne, 

 a fifty minutes from Crick Gorse to Naseby Keservoir 

 sticks tenaciously to the memory of the writer; as does 

 another, one dull November afternoon, from near No- 

 bottle Wood to Cottesbrooke village. This run retains 

 especial hold on the memory, from the fact that darkness 

 having begun to cover the earth, it was necessary to call 

 in the aid of a cottager's lantern to allow of the perform- 

 ance of the fox's obsequies. For some time before 

 the end it had been a case of touch and go — and 

 more of the first than the second — with the fences; 

 and had it not been for the friendly light, hounds 

 ■would have enacted this final operation, heard but 

 unseen, 



As Althorp House was passed, the present owner 

 then ten years old, stood watching the scene, and can 

 now tell from tradition every yard of the line. 



Two unusually painful incidents occurred to leave 

 their mark upon the second period of Mr. Payne's 



K 



