SEASON 1871-72 45 



until I told liim. On another occasion he gave me 

 a lead on this mare over a locked gate near Folk- 

 ingham, so we knew something about her, you see, 

 when she was brought to carry the first whip. 

 She finished her career breaking her back in a wide 

 brook near Folkingham. Talking of jumping gates, 

 that seems to have gone quite out of fashion, yet 

 at one time of day there were plenty who never 

 thought of stopping to open one. I have seen the 

 late Duke of Rutland, when hounds were running, 

 take half-a-dozen gates in succession. As a matter 

 of fact, a hunter had to be a good timber-jumper in 

 those days, when ox -rails were more general in 

 Leicestershire and the big bullock pastures of 

 Lincolnshire." 



The cubbing time was a good one with a scent 

 most mornings, so that hounds were out thirty- 

 seven times, accounted for fifty-six foxes, besides 

 marking fourteen to ground. Amongst the good 

 days this season that of January 3rd stands out 

 for mention, lending itself for narrative. Melton 

 Spinney supplied the fox, who ran with a point for 

 Brentingby Spinney, where a shepherd cur joined 

 in chase and nearly spoilt the run. From Goadby 

 Gorse it was a regular race of thirty minutes to the 

 kill in Croxton Park, and out of the large field Sir 

 Frederick Johnstone was certainly the foremost. 

 With the evening fox from Freeby Wood hounds 

 ran by Saxby nearly to Woodwell Head, where 

 they were stopped by darkness after running well 

 for fifty minutes. There were lots of falls and 

 tired horses, but the pride of place belonged to 



