uggle, he had given up his hounds: the deer alone he
managed to domesticate and increase, his stock at present amounting to
four hundred head.

No spot could have been better chosen for an experiment of this kind, as
the whole estate lies within a natural ring-fence, bounded by deep
waters on two sides, and cut off from all neighbours on the other by a
belt of close forest. Under other laws, time would be afforded for the
regular improvement of this domain, and the plans of the founder might
be carried out by his successors; but, as it is, the present worthy
possessor once laid beneath the turf, the object of all his pains-taking
and labour will, in all probability, be cut up into small farms, or be
allowed once more to degenerate into forest, as may appear most
profitable to his heirs.

This plan may be decidedly the most advantageous for the community at
large, and I have no doubt is, since it works well here; but it has a
chilly and depressing effect on the mind when viewed by one who would
desire--and who does not?--to live in the creations which owe their
existence to his labour or his taste, and who would revisit in the
spirit the pleasant place enjoyed by his children, for whose dear sakes
it was first projected.

After supper our spirited old host gave the hour of muster for five
o'clock A.M., and we severally sought our beds in order to make the most
of the brief time left for sleep. Much as I love a fox-hunt, I freely
confess that this early rising did seem a mighty hard bargain.

_28th._--Not choosing to be laggard, as the thing was to be done, I was
first afoot for the honour of Britain;--the whole party, indeed, were
exceedingly punctual;--and after a hearty breakfast, away we rode for
cover, with a slight crisping of frost under hoof, and a warm-looking
sky just opening over head, heralding a sun that gave promise of making
woodland and meadow smoke again within the next hour or two; at present,
however, the air was nippingly shrewd, to say the least of it, and set
me to blowing my fingers like a trumpeter. At the end of about an hour's
ride the dogs were laid on, and almost immediately hit off the scent,
and went away merrily through the wood at a slashing rate. The rider is
here kept wide awake by the vicinity of the trees, many of which are
spreading and low-branched, requiring a quick eye and some suppleness to
keep one's hat from getting hurt when going "the pace," and, by St.
Hubert! these hounds