444 Saddle and Sirloin. 



(then Mr. Lambton's) was pulled up completely beaten 

 half a mile from home. 



We have not space to speak of half of the good 

 coursing grounds in England ; but we cannot pass by 

 Sundorne. If the supply of hares could be depended 

 upon, it is a more delightful spot than any, with its 

 old grass and elms — the ancestral home of the Corbets, 

 which brings back to fox-hunting hearts the thoughts 

 of Will Barrow, u another cheer for the blood of old 

 Trojan," and the mouldering mullions of Haughmond 

 Abbey. The coursing takes place in the park and on 

 the home farms ; the hares are all driven out of the 

 ploughs, wood hurdles are placed against the wire 

 fences, and the crowd have to stand like soldiers. 

 Some of the finest coursing comes off when the hares 

 are driven from The Wood and past the house, for a 

 straight gallop across the park. The little beech tree, 

 with the seat round it, where Tom Raper has often 

 crouched in his red jacket, and bided his time, once 

 with Riot and Hopbine, and again with Hopbine and 

 Reveller in the slips, is as full of venerable associa- 

 tions in its way as " The Bushes" at Newmarket. 

 The hare must be a cracker indeed if she can reach 

 the old oak refuge of Haughmond Hill. 



But Mr. Corbet has gone, and Sundorne coursing 

 days are not what he left them. His father hunted 

 Shropshire as well as Warwickshire ; and his Norman 

 ancestor was not only " a most cunning marksman 

 against hart or doe," but his valour at Acre secured 

 him, from " Richard, the Lion Heart," permission to 

 bear the two ravens on his shield. Another ancestor, 

 one Peter Corbet, was a mighty hunter in the reign of 

 Edward the First, who granted him letters patent to 

 take wolves in the Royal Forests. Being thus bred, 

 as it were, to every phase of the chase, it is no wonder 

 that the late Mr. Corbet took to harriers as soon as he 

 returned from college, and hunted five days a fort- 

 night. He was also a staunch guardian of foxes, and 



