1 6o The Pytckley Hunt, Past a7id Present, 



ford, soon after five on a morning early in August, 1853. 

 After being at it for three hours the hounds changed on 

 to a shabby little vixen, who slipped like a witch through 

 the briars and sedge, and fairly defied the dog-pack to 

 make her break. During the whole day they threw up 

 only twice, and for four hours expected to kill every 

 minute. At 3 p.m. Lord Hopetoun and Captain JSTew- 

 land, quite tired out, went home. A sort of cordon of 

 country-people was drawn up in one corner, but the 

 little vixen slipped through them over and over again, 

 and even when the second Whip had been sent to Brig- 

 stocke for four couple of the best bitches, and had tried 

 their best for another hour, she was as lively and 

 inexhaustible in her dodges as ever. Every hound was 

 stripped bare in his breast and forelegs, and some dropped 

 beaten on the road on their way home. To the 

 enthusiastic admirer of the working of hounds this may 

 have been a day of unmitigated delight and enjoyment, 

 but to any ordinary mortal the scene must have been one 

 of intolerable fatigue, weariness and monotony, and a 

 warning' against a too frequent indulgence in the so-called 

 pleasures of hunting in the dog-days. 



In the following season Lord Hopetoun had the good 

 fortune to be able to boast that his hounds had shown 

 the best run ever seen with the Pytchley up to that time, 

 and with which in the eyes of his huntsman, Charles 

 Payn, " the great Waterloo run '^ is in no way compa- 

 rable. The details of this excellent day's sport were as 

 follows : — 



On November 21st, 1854, a stormy morning which 

 cleared off into a lovely day, a large field met the 

 Pytchley at North Kilworth, and in a coppice under Mr. 



