258 THE QUORN HUNT 



could be seen) a gravestone to a male blacksmith, with 

 the following epitaph : — 



My sledge and hammer lie reclined, 

 My bellows, too, have lost their wind ; 

 My fire's extinguished — forge decayed, 

 And in the dust my vice is laid ; 

 My coal is spent, my iron gone ; 

 The last nail's drove, and work is done. 



If the season 1857-58 was not a particularly good 

 one, there were at any rate some good runs in that which 

 followed. On the 18th December 1858, Lord Stamford's 

 hounds had a somewhat remarkable hunt of four hours 

 and ten minutes. 



They met at Bardon Hill, and no sooner were hounds in covert 

 than a fox jumped up in view. He ran a fast ring round the 

 covert, and then went away in the direction of Greenhill, pointing 

 for the monastery. So quickly did he go away from the covert 

 that many of the field did not have a good start. He soon turned 

 to the right over some rough ground, skirted Gisborne's Gorse, 

 left the Oaks on his right, and made his way to Garendon Park. 

 There he was unluckily headed, so turned short to the right up 

 to the privets, and turning equally short to the left, passed Whittle 

 Hill and Chartley Knoll on the right, and running through Chartley 

 Wood, reached the racks, where the fox turned to the right and 

 this time ran through Gisborne's Gorse, and thence straight back 

 to Bardon Hill, the return journey allowing many of those thrown 

 out to nick in. Round Bardon Hill the fox ran a couple of rings 

 and then he made for Green Hill, running the road for a distance ; 

 but, on being headed, made his way back again to Bardon Hill, 

 around which he travelled once ; then went off for the monastery, 

 but turning to the left through Holly Knoll Wood, very nearly up to 

 Coleville ; again bent to the left, leaving Bardon Station and the 

 railway on the right, returning thence to his old quarters at Bardon 

 Hill, where, thoroughly exhausted, he was run into ; the pace 

 having been very good considering that the run lasted four hours 

 and ten minutes with no check to speak of. 



Only a few days later (23rd December 1858) the hounds met 

 at Barrow Lodge, where foxes were so carefully tended by Mr. 

 Shield. Finding in a covert near at hand, away went the fox as 



