[46 



S TA G-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



it. In theory the Queen's Hounds hunted it ; in practice, 

 however, it was in an uncomfortable way. No one knew 

 what he was writing about better than the late Mr. Higgins, 

 and nothing could be better or more amusingly done than his 

 account of a day with the Queen's Hounds written early in 

 the forties, and during Lord Rosslyn's Mastership. I must 

 not spoil it by a paraphrase. The road which Mr. Higgins 

 (a fine horseman) would have us believe he has been sticking 



The Country Fak and Wide is up in Arms against us 



to, no longer serves : ' In a fit of frenzy we deviate into a 

 green lane; becoming still more excited we open a gate 

 into a field, and adventure upon a cart track. The track 

 ends in a heap of manure ; we desperately crawl through 

 a weak place in a fence, and, our blood being up, jump 

 a couple of rotten hurdles ; and then we are entangled in 

 the heart of the Harrow country. The deer and hounds 

 may be gone to York for all we know or care ; for on collect- 

 ing our scattered senses we find that we have objects of major 



