THE SHIRES 



His lordship thoroughly understands the whole 

 management of hounds, in the kennel and the 

 field, is enthusiastically fond of the pursuit, and, 

 being a very determined rider as well as an 

 excellent judge of a horse, is always present 

 in an emergency to observe the cause and take 

 measures for the remedy. Will Goodall has but 

 little to learn as a huntsman, and, like his father, 

 the unrivalled Will Goodall of Belvoir celebrity, 

 places implicit confidence in his hounds. " They 

 can put me right," seems his maxim, "oftener 

 than I can put them ! " If a man wanted to see 

 a gallop in the shires at its best, he should meet 

 the Pytchley some Saturday in February at 

 Waterloo Gorse, but I am bound to caution him 

 that he ought to ride a brilliant hunter, and, as 

 young Rapid would say, "harden his heart" to 

 make strong use of him. 



Large grass fields, from fifty to a hundred 

 acres in extent, carrying a rare scent, are indeed 

 tempting ; but to my own taste, though perhaps 

 in this my reader may not agree with me, they 

 would be more inviting were they not separated 

 by such forbidding fences. A high blackthorn 

 hedge, strong enough to hold an elephant, with 

 one, and sometimes two ditches, fortified, more- 

 over, in many cases, by a rail placed half a horse's 

 length off to keep out cattle from the thorns, 

 offers, indeed, scope for all the nobler qualities of 



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