A Forest Run With " The Queen's:' i6i 



the effects of tlie very serious fall lie met with on the 

 last day of the past season ; and I venture to say that^ 

 given an open country and a " warrantable stag/'' he 

 will be a hard man to beat when he sits down to ride 

 at the tail of his pack. Then he may exclaim, as 

 Charles Davis was wont to do when he got well away^ 

 " Why don't you ride over them now ? " 



Having learnt that the meet on the following 

 morning was to be at the Royal Hotel, at Ascot^ I 

 determined to see a forest run^ which, prior to the 

 commencement of the regular season beginning on 

 November 1, is for the stag what cub-hunting is to 

 the fox-hound, and is the means of exercising the 

 pack and breathing the deer preparatory to the com- 

 mencement of the real business of the year. Starting 

 from Taplow and journeying across Maidenhead Bridge, 

 through the village of Bray, away by New Lodge, the 

 lovely residence of Madame Van de Weyer, skirting 

 the edge of Windsor Forest, and passing between the 

 kennels and the race- course, the Royal Hotel is 

 reached, where a small field is assembled, amongst 

 whom several ladies are to be seen, and several veteran 

 sportsmen well known with the Queen's. The mist 

 having been dispelled by the bright sun, which shone 

 with all the ardour of a summer's day, Goodall trotted 

 off with the hounds, through the lovely lanes and 

 glorious rides of Windsor Forest, which are seen in 

 perfection on a brilliaut October morning, the foliage 

 just showing the first golden tints of autumn ; and 

 though doubtless the proverbial southerly wind and 

 the cloudy sky proclaim a hunting morning, yet a 

 lover of the noble sport can find much to delight him 

 should he try his hand at a forest run with the Queen's 



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