178 HUNTING REMINISCENCES 



lordships of Rauceby, Wilsford, and Willoughby, 

 he Avas picked up on the line by a platelayer, 

 apparently dead beat. This worthy carried him 

 on, but seeing hounds coming, turned him down 

 again, and he ran for three fields before yielding 

 up his brush. 



Another run with a red mark of excellence 

 against it we find recorded on February 8th from 

 Folkingham Big Gorse, the pack running very fast 

 by Birthorpe, Billingboro, Horbling forward for 

 Swaiton, back by Newton Gorse, Walcott, and 

 Threekington, to finish near Spanby. A hound 

 called Dextral, a dark tan little bitch, sighted the 

 fox, and running into him, killed before her comrades 

 could come up, after a fine hunt of one hour and 

 five minutes. The veteran Sir Thomas Whichcote 

 was so pleased at the performance that he begged 

 the mask, and he never did so unless it was a run of 

 great excellence. The leading division were Major 

 Amcotts, Captain A. Welby, Captain Tennant, and 

 J. Bellamy. Two days later, in the afternoon, 

 Captain Alfred Welby, Dragoon Guards, met 

 with a crushing fall by Keisby Wood through his 

 horse putting a foot in a rabbit hole. 



The Belvoir Ash Wednesday as usual attracted 

 a large field, representative of at least a dozen 

 hunts. A find was proclaimed at Sproxton Thorns, 

 hounds running well to Bescaby Oaks, over the 

 Sproxton brook and out of scent. The afternoon 

 fox was set going from Wymondham Mill, and 

 gave a gallop over a picked line of country worthy 

 of so historical an occasion. Running by Teigh 



