36 KEMINISCENCES, ETC. 



I set it dowu as a mere frolic of the day, never dreaming 

 that he intended persevering in doing so. It now appears 

 that he is in real earnest, and the gentlemen of his neigh- 

 bourhood must be highly pleased with the compliment he 

 has paid them, in selecting so magnificent a pack of hounds 

 to hunt their country." 



Mr. Smith once at Tedworth, a wondrous change came 

 over the spirit of that region. No one but a man of the 

 most iron will and undeviating purpose would ever have 

 dreamed of converting the immense tracts of woodland, 

 dense and ungovernable, whicli thirty years ago covered the 

 face of what is now called the Tedworth country, into ride- 

 able fox coverts. When Mr. Smith first proposed to the 

 landed proprietors of the neighbourhood to hunt the coun- 

 try, he received permission with a smile, accompanied with 

 a caution, that he would find it impossible on account of the 

 enormous size of the woods — several of them containing 

 on an average more than a thousand acres each ; and also 

 on account of the badness of the scent : two of the fox- 

 hunter's greatest drawbacks. The gentry and farmers, 

 however, soon finding the man they had to deal with, ren- 

 dered him every assistance ; the former letting him their 

 coverts at a reasonable rent, the latter preserving foxes, of 

 which up to this time there had been a great scarcity, as if 

 they were prize pigs. Under such good auspices, and with 

 means and appliances to boot, Collingbourne, Doyley, Doles, 

 Wherwell, and Faccombe, which had hitherto been without 

 any straight rides, and consequently of little use compara- 

 tively for hunting, were rendered " negotiable " in the hands 

 of the squire, some at his own expense, the others by his 

 influence with the proprietors. The extent of wood levelled 

 to the ground by his orders was almost miraculous, and the 

 green rides opened, as if by magic, in those hitherto im« 

 permeable fastnesses, will remain a lasting memorial of the 

 good to be achieved by spending money for any judicious 

 purpose among the labouring classes. Andover at that 



