THE OLD YEAR OUT. ll.j 



sent Ills warmth, tliougli lie coiiLl not brighten it with 

 his rays. The meet being an obscure secret, only to be 

 circulated among subscribers, had been whispered abroad 

 so lavishly that all tiie forms of advertisement known to 

 Mr. AVilling could not have called together a fuller 

 concourse. As the hounds trotted off to draw Bleak- 

 moor, the jMelton road carried a mile of humanity, on 

 horseback and on wheels — trooping in close formation 

 from the trysting place beside the old church and Hall. 

 A primitive people, I am led to believe, compose the 

 population of the region round Brooksby — once a 

 thickly inhabited district, now only a manorhouse and a 

 garden- church, with squire and rector duly attached. 

 Each pasture surrounding it bears curious indentations, 

 mounds, and marks, denoting probably the site of former 

 buildings. But not till a week or so ago has any really 

 reliable explanation been forthcoming of their origin. 

 The " oldest parishioner " of the adjoining village was 

 asked for information — and promptly gave it as follows, 

 " Well sir, they do tell me as Squire Cromwell made 

 'em. Kind o' fortifications like. But I can't say as I 

 knowed him.'' 



I have no long story to tell of Friday. A beautiful 

 hunting day brought but little fruit. The morning fox 

 was found among the small plantations in the neighbour- 

 hood of the meet : and all that was of passing interest 

 in the short-run ring concentrated in the difficulty and 

 disasters of a single impediment — which fairly "held 

 up " a hundred people till hounds might have been two 

 parishes away, and to all appearance were. A water- 



