JOHNA.SEAVERNS 3 9090 014 563 122 Webster Family Library' of Veterinaiy Medicine Cummings School ci ^-falemary Medicine at lulls University 200 Westkwro Road North nrafton. MA 01536 TALLYHO. : TALLYHO. SKETCHES OF HUNTING, COACHING-, ETC. ETC. FEED FEILD WHITEHTIEST, (a TETEEA^^.) Listening how the hounds and horn Cheerly rouse the slumbering morn, From the side of some hoar hill, Through the high-wood echoing shii\l."—Milton. LONDON TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1878. [All rights reserved.] ,1 PEEPAOE. The following sketches of Hunting, Coach- ing, etc., which appeared during the seasons 1877-8 in the columns of the ' Daily Tele- graph ' and ^ Bell's Life in London,' are now reprinted by permission of the respective Proprietors. CONTENTS. PAGE A Day with the Baron 1 • With the Fitzwilliam , .7 With the H.H 16 I. A Week at Melton 26 II. A Week at Melton 41 Melton : Its Horses and Hounds 55 At Badminton 63 I. In the Shires 75 II. In the Sliires 86 With ttie Pytcliley 97 With the Wanvickshire 109 Coaches in the Park 118 The Four-in-Hand Club 126 A Year's Coaching 133 Hunting the Wild Red Deer 145 A Forest Run with " The Queen's." 157 Hunting in the Isle of Thanet 166 The Royal Buckliounds 176 Hunting on the South Downs 180 I. Melton Mowbray 191 II. Melton Mowbray 199 HI. Melton Mowbray 208 viii Contcfiis, FAGB A Pink Wedding 217 Melton : Its Manners and Customs 224 A Good Time at Eugby 234 The North Warwickshire 242 A Merry Time in the Midlands 250 With the North Warwdcksliire and the Atherstone . 259 With the Brookside 268 Hunting in the Isle of Wight 276 Hunting at Brighton 284 The Eoyal Buckhounds 292 Hunting the Hare 300 The Essex Union 308 With the Surrey Staghounds 317 The Wane of the Season 325 The First and Last Hounds in England . .334 The Beginning of the End 843 Farewell to the Belvoir 354 Last Scene of All 365 TALLYHO A DAY WITH THE BAEON. There may be a diversity of opinion as to the com- parative merits of fox and stag hunting; but there are very few who would not be contented with a spin across such a matchless " country '' as the Vale of Aylesbury,, where the size of the fences is in unison with the fields, most of which take a good deal of getting over^ compelling occasionally those who desire to go in the first flight to ^^ harden their hearts^ hustle their horses, and go at them full tilt/' In the pursuit of the stag, they who hesitate are lost. There is no time for " craning " if they desire to live with such a pack as the ^' Baron's/' and unless their hearts are in the right place, and they keep their hands down, '' they will, in sporting parlance be nowhere."" It is in such countries as the Vale of Aylesbury and the Roothings of Essex that stag hunting is to be enjoyed 1 s 2 Tallyho, " in its fullest perfection; for alttougli the ^' Queen^s hounds are all that can be desired, the huntsmen, the whips, the horses they bestride, and the deer they hunt, good enough for any time or place, yet the '*" country ^^ has its serious drawbacks, for the cream of it is so gridironed by railways, and so studded with semi-detached villas, with their poultry yards, cucum- ber frames, and kitchen gardens, that in the event of the deer electing to run over the far-famed Harrow district, the " field ^^ are bound sooner or later to come to grief over broken bottles, wire fencing, or tenter- hooks. Even should they steer clear of such obstacles, they run the risk of encountering a landed proprietor, who, ignoring the fact that property has its duties as well as its rights, strongly objects to your riding over his domain. Years and years ago a curious little scene occurred at Down Barn Farm, Hillingdon, when Anderson^ hounds met by stealth at the Adam and Eve at Hayes. The deer was uncarted at the back of that dilapidated hostelry ; the field included Anderson, Jem Mason, Philpot on " Tam BouflP,^' a Russian horse, and a marvel at timber, Tom Shackle on his celebrated grey, and a man on the leader cf the Amersham omnibus, which he had taken from the team, and by a rapid act of horsemanship converted into a hunter, fauie de mieux ; the whole lot were soon sailing over the fences of this place of evil repute. Anderson, who was very " hard of hearing,^^ and who was mounted on a nag, which if he could have been prevailed upon to sell, he would have given but small change out of a " thou,^* but whose forte was not fencing, seeing an irate farmer, gun in hand, and with many imprecations, making A Day with the Baron, 3 tracks to cut him ofl', asked the man on the ^bus horse what it meant. ^' That he will shoot you with as little remorse as he would a garden thrush/' was the reply, " if you ride over his wheat/' "What is to be done?'' " Why, charge that stake and binder fence with the brook flowing on the other side, and get out of his way as soon as you can." Thereupon he hardened his heart and negotiated the lot, and, looking back after the man on the coach horse, was considerably astonished at finding him landed safely by his side. In the Vale of Aylesbury no such contretemps are to be feared. There the landlords and tenants are to the manner born huntsmen, and look with consum- mate indifierence on a few gaps in their fences or a well-trampled piece of wheat, knowing full well that it will be all right when harvest time comes. It is now 37 years since "the Barons" made their debut in Buckinghamshire as masters of hounds, starting with a few couples of Sir Charles Shakerley's staghounds, and adding drafts from the kennels of the Old Berkeley, Harvey Combe, and, above all, the Fitzwilliam; and when it is remembered that these hounds were, as a rule, drafted from their own packs on account of their excessive speed, it is little wonder that a pack of flyers was soon established, to be still further improved year by year by the addition of fresh blood of the best strains. Frederick Cox, who has hunted the Baron's hounds for 22 seasons, takes for his motto " Excelsior," and promises still further improvement, the necessity for 1—2 4 Tallyho, wliich, however, is not obvious to a casual observer, more especially when lie hears this sportsman, of such lengthened experience, give his opinion that the best deer that was ever uncarted could not live before the present pack for more than sixty minutes across the best parts of the Yale. The meet on Thursday last was at the Windmill at Tring. An hour's ride from Euston brings you to the station, and a few minutes behind a pair of steppers, of more than average excellence, suflSce to land the visitor at Tring Park, the hospitable hunting quarters of Sir Nathaniel Eothschild, as pleasant a spot as eye could desire, with its " fading many-coloured woods '^ which make '^ the pale descending year yet pleasant still/' Tring Park was one of the gifts of that ever free and altogether merrie monarch Charles II. to his some time mistress, fair Nell Gwyn, whose portrait still adorns the walls of the mansion. If the appoint- ments in this place of Poyal retirement were equal in comfort and elegance to those of the present possessor, then the merrie monarch must have had an exceed- ingly good time of it when he retired to its peaceful shades from '^ that fierce light that beats upon a throne,' ' and wandered through the lovely glades with the fair Nell Gwyn. A few minutes' ride through the quaint old town, and the windmill is reached, to find a large "Field" assem- bled, with many lookers-on, watching eagerly for the uncarting of the deer. Cox, mounted on The Rascal by Adventurer—who, having misbehaved himself on the turf, has been relegated to the chase—looks fit to go for a man's life, and 20 couples of unusually level A Day with the Baron. 5 and symmetrical hounds give promise of sport if tlie deer but run well. The deer, having been uncarted, declined to face the sharp north-east wind, and, leaving Tring on his right, takes a line of country in the direction of Amersham, crossing the Berkhamp- stead Eoad, and on to the large woods near Chesham, where, after ringing round the covers for a while, he is finally taken in a farmyard, after a fair hunting run of an hour and a quarter. The country rides well, but the fences are blind, and several horses are to be seen at an early stage running riderless after the hounds. The scent was bad throughout, though it improved as the day advanced. Sir Nathaniel, on a promising young Irish horse, and Messrs. Flower, Foy, Williams, Cazenove, and many other well-mounted sportsmen are all there, or thereabouts ; but as the Yale is not hunted until the end of the month in consequence of the blindness of the fences, there were several of the first flight absent, who will put in an appearance as the season advances. Returning to Tring Park, there is time for a cursory view of the house and grounds. Many gems in the way of portrait-painting—prominent amongst them Millais's picture of the son and heir and a full-length portrait of Queen Elizabeth—adorn the walls.