WITH THE FITZWILLIAM. 



"Next unto Cambridgesliire lieth Huntingdonsliire, 

 a country good for corn and tillage, and towards the 

 east, where it is fenny, verie rich and plentiful for the 

 feeding of cattle ; elsewhere right pleasant, by reason 

 of rising hills and shady grouves. The capital is 

 Huntersdune — that is, the Hil or Downe of Hunters ; 

 and hard by is a medow called Portsholme^ environed 

 round by the Ouse, where the pleasant spring fair 

 floures doth yeeld, of divers colours in this feeld." 



Such is the description of Huntingdonshire in olden 

 times, and it stands good to this day, barring the 

 addition of railways, telegraph poles, level crossings, 

 and threshing machines — things calculated to interfere 

 sadly with the straight going of the man who desires 

 to sail across this magnificent country at the tail of 

 the " Fitz Willi am," one of the finest packs of fox- 

 hounds in the world. 



The best meets of the Fitzwilliam are Barnwell 

 Wold, Bythorn Tollbar, Catworth-gorse, Stanwick Pas- 

 tures, Leighton-gorse, and Elton and Buckworth. And 

 the best place of sojourn for the adventurous is, with- 

 out doubt, the Haycock at Wansford. "What Limmer's 

 was to the army, the Haycock was, and still is, 

 happily, to the hunting world. Distant about seven 

 miles from Peterborough, and five from Stamford, it 

 was in bygone days, ere the iron of the rail had entered 



