Scarlet. 299 



them twice. The meet was at Nutfield, in the God- 

 stone country, and they found at Old Park, and killed 

 in the large coverts at Cansion, after crossing the 

 river five times ! The twenty-two miles from point 

 to point was done in four hours and a-half ; and a lad 

 of the name of Richards, on his pony, stuck to them 

 all the way. Tom's horse, Advocate, was beat be- 

 yond Dry Hill ; and then getting on his son Sam's 

 Doubtful, " the old un " had such a tumble at the 

 next fence, that to this day they demand of him in 

 that part of the country, to send a horse and cart to 

 fill up the hole he made. Be that as it may, Tom 

 rose from his mother earth like a very Antaeus re- 

 freshed ; and as he saw Warrior carry the scent down 

 a lane into a coppice, he exclaimed, in his unquenched 

 fervour, to Mr. Ross, '' Hes been waiting for us; he 

 must be owrn now I " 



** Blest is the eye 

 Which dwells between the Severn and the Wye," 



has long been a Gloucestershire saying, Berkeley Castle. 

 and we felt the truth of it to the full, as 

 we climbed, one July evening, to the top of the tower 

 in Berkeley Park, and looked down as well on that 

 richly wooded panorama, which was the hunting 

 ground of the Earl for some half a century. Quite 

 as keen sporting characters as himself were reared 

 there. Old Pierce used to sit at his cottage door near 

 Berkeley, when he could hardly stir, and listen to the 

 Earl's and Harry Ayris's horns all over the Vale ; 

 and when his lordship passed on his return home, 

 and stopped, as was his wont, to tell him about the 

 sport, he was sure to remind him once more, " Fve 

 heard y on and Harry all day — it 7tever goes well with 

 you, when there's so much duet ting." 



Then there was Jerry Hawkins, who ,^ ^ ^^ 

 still lives in the print on his thirty-year- 

 old horse, taking his hat off to cheer Hazard, one of 



