kind attention from Sir W. Molesworth since their arrival on the preceding Saturday. After much parley on the subject of where they should commence, it was settled to draw some plantations belonging to Sir William Call, about four miles distant, which, as well as many other coverts, were drawn blank. Kennacott park was then fixed upon by acclamation for the two o'clock fox-a glorious covert!-hounds fit to fly-an evident morning scent-expectation again painfully excited-tribes of horsemen, parishes of footmen......all again as painfully disappointed-no fox! the scent, alas! came through.Back to Tetcott, and drew all Millwood coverts a blank. The draw was finished: it was all Lombard Street to the lowest and most Hebrew-like Piccadilly orange; and the various lines homeward were being pointed out to many a dull sad ear, when three couple of hounds escaped into a small bed of rushes by the road-side, and—(oh! the glorious uncertainty of the game!)-had him up in one instant; the pack joined them in another; and in a third it became evident how small a proportion of the party present were destined to live with them. He took his first line towards Blagdon, the hospitable mansion of George Leach, Esq., when, smelling the preparation for dinner-for it was late in the day, and he was not quite a mile distant-or perhaps from some other cause, he headed, leaving West Peak farm to the left, and, crossing the canal and river, passed through Bradridge like an arrow, left the covert above the gorse, and broke away over a fine expanse of country, the pack well

together, and carrying a destructive head. His course was now west of Launceston, from which he never deviated, running over Langdon Moor, leaving North Petherwin steeple a mile to the left, and, after crossing the whole of the vale at a killing pace, he was run in to in an open field at Egloskerry-one hour and twelve minutes from the time he was found, and fourteen miles from the point where he was first headed.

There were no disasters, and no showers-no old women, no sheep dogs, no deep lanes to account for them. It was, in the

strictest sense of that word which is rarely so applied, a brilliant run, modernly speaking, and not a fox-chase, commonly so called. A specimen of that warfare was reserved for the following Friday, when, after two days' sport with Mr. Phillipps's excellent hounds, Mr. Bulteel met as before at Tetcott kennel. The day began by drawing the gorse in a line for Panson Woods, but... no fox! Mr. Parsons, an excellent yeoman, warmly recommended an acre of gorse: the cry was small!" Fortunately the huntsman yielded to the farmer's better judgment, and again was the day's diversion hanging upon a thread. A hound spoke......again a dead silence: he had turned short in the very nest in which he lay. So much time had elapsed that the horn was at work, and all but four or five couple of hounds had left the covert, when the field was rescued from all chance of disaster by a spirited

too

Tally!" from that excellent sportsman Mr. Edgecumbe (not Lord Mount Edgecumbe, or Lord Valletort, as has been erroneously

Ꭰ

stated, who were hunting in another country for a Representative of the elder branch of that family). An instant afterwards the fox left the covert with all the pack close at his brush, crossed the river to Carey Woods, where notwithstanding the foil of the draw, they turned with him in gallant style down the valley, recrossing the water to Downicary Moors, where they ran him hard and straight over a fine expanse of heathy down to Hayne, à distance of ten miles up to the first check, where the untimely assistance of a harrier threw up the pack. They hit him again over the river, having never left his straight line; and having hunted him through crowds of footmen, foil of harriers, and various other bedevilments, they got a fresh scent at Sydenham,

which he never recovered. Leaving Lydford great woods to the left, he passed over all the uplands and inclosed moors of Milton Abbott; crossed the drive at Endsleigh, leaving the lodge to the left; and, instead of making for the large preserved coverts, passed down the valley towards Horsebridge, being fairly beat out of his country, and was run in to in the open, a quarter of a mile from that place, and twentytwo from the gorse in which he was found.

Thus ended a chase which for variety of hunting and hard running, and for the straight line described over a fine wild country, could not well be exceeded. The hounds returned to Lyneham the same evening, as the distance to Tetcott was greater than that to their own kennel.

As to good throwing, I fancy practice will be of more service to the learner than theory: the mere prattle" of "bookish theoric" as Iago calls it, being of about as much use in this particular, as one of Fiorillo's Studies for the Violin to one who had never seen the instrument. I should recommend as short a line as possible: it will not only be cast with greater precision and lightness, but, by bringing you nearer your work, render it scarcely possible for a fish to rise without being hooked. In fishing broad rivers and lakes, the side next to you is just as good as the opposite one, provided you keep out of sight; and this is surely more easily effected when there are two or three yards of bank between you and the water, than when, having waded in, the whole stream is set in commotion by your energetic exertions to deliver from twenty to thirty yards of line, which after all falls twisted and folded like a sleeping boa constrictor. The leeward side is the best the fish are more hungry, as the flies, which of course are carried along by the wind, are for the most part devoured before they get half across. Besides this, he who can only throw with the wind will frequently, in extensive waters, have to go in up to his middle, as

the breeze when light seldom touches at all on the windward side; whereas on the other the ripple will be so strong as to prevent any fly that may have reached so far from remaining there, and the fish will generally take anything they see in the shape of one. When you see a fish rise, throw somewhat above him, having first waved your line over your head to bring it to its full length, and to give it the twist. When you have hooked him, if he is not above a pound weight, little ceremony need be observed further than holding your rod so as to bring the butt a little forward, when the spring and pliancy of the top will tire him almost directly. Never lay hold of the line with your hand, as by so doing you bring yourself too much in sight, and scare the fish, in consequence of which he darts away with all his strength, and not unfrequently escapes.

The rod should be from twelve to thirteen feet long, and light enough to be easily used in one hand. The butt piece must not be hollow, as is often the case; for, by being so, it is not only more liable to break, but is unpleasantly top-heavy, and invariably warps. I consider the Irish ones inferior to those made in London: they are elegantly got up, and of the best material; but though at this moment I have one of Kelly's best specimens, I must say I cannot use it with any degree of satisfaction; they are too supple.