The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-16 00:00:00

HUNTING IN SURREY.

[From the Spurting Magazine.]

THE SURREY HOUNDS.

It has an happened. that, with the exception of three days with
the late King's stag-leninds, and two or three with the Oakley,
tire years ALM, I never hunted within forty miles of London in my
life. Accident, however, bringing Inc into Surrey, in the begin-
ning of the present month, I lost no opportunity of seeing the dif-
ferent packs of hounds which it contains ; and I shall offer your
readers a short account of each in their turns.

I confess it excited no small degree of interest to satisfy myself
how the system of fox-hunting was carried on within a dozen miles
of the metropolis, where, in general, the country is so thickly in-
habited • where there are so many gentlemen's plantations, and
where, Calculating by the points of the compass, it is not three to
one that the chase do not IA into London. A few days' experi-
ence, however, dispelled all such apprehension, as there is a chain
of woodlands through all that part called " the Hills," too inviting
for a fox to quit for a country of which he can have little know-
ledge, and where he would not be likely to be very well received.
The fixture for the Surrey subscription pack being most conveni-
ent for nie on the day after my arrival in this country, I met them
on the 10th of November, at buck's Bottom, on -the Tonbridge
Wells road, about thirteen miles from town. Previous to seeing
them, my mind was strongly prejudiced against these hounds, and
every thing that related to their establishment. 1 was told there
was not a good sportsman among the subscribers to them ; that
their men knew nothing about hunting ; that being Lord Mayor's
day, all London would be there ; and, in short, I began to think,
from all I heard, that nothing but my isord Mayor's conch would
be wanting to complete the rarce show.
Whether this were a true or false representation of the facts, it
was not in my power to determine, and nothing but experience
could prove it. I knew nothing of the members of the hunt, and
as little of their men ; but on my road to covert, I overtook the
pack, with which, at first sight, I could perceive no fault. I had
seen hounds looking brighter in their skins ; but their condition, as
to flesh, was pretty good, and they seemed of a sire well adapted
to a rough country. They appeared not remarkable for being what
is called " sizeable," some of the bitches being 'mail. but' -
rally full of pliiiiiird shewing such good Wed' n•
F
huntsman yes om illness baring Just m a
dangerous attack yphus ;so they were hunted by a bro er of ,
his, of rather plebeian appearance, with the assistance of Free-
man, their only whipper-in. Toey were mounted on strong useful
horses, one of which was in zemarkably good condition, and the
hounds seemed handy and quiet.
Before I proceed, I must inform such of your readers as are at a
din:since, that these are the hounds which were kept for seven or
eight years in very great style by Mr. Alaberley, whose seat is
%Wan two miles of Croydon ; and who, in the handsomest man-
ner, inntle a present of them to the gentlemen who took to the
country, at the same time affording them the use of his kennel ;
but, fur reasons to which, of course, I sin a stranger, he never
huins with them now—going out, when in Surrey, chiefly with
Lord Derby and Alr. Jollitfe. Torn Hills, who hunts them, as
well as Freeman, who whips in to him, also lived with Mr. Ma-
Wiley, and know the country well, as, indeed, do several of the
gentlemen who subscribe to them, having hunted it for many years.
Tom Hills was brought up in Mr. Alaberlefe service, and pro-
ceeded by regular steps to the place he now holds ; but Freeman
spent some of his years in the service of Mr. Jcilliffe as whipper-in,
and, as I was very soon able to discern, knows his business well.
On the uay I allude to (the Inth of November), we soon found
our fox, and ran him, at a fair hunting pace, for six or seven miles
over the country, when we came to rather a tedious check. It was
a trying scent for hounds, being one of those greasy mornings after
a slight hoar frost, when the ground invariably carries, and more
particularly on ploughed land, over which we principally hunted.
The hounds, however, stuck well to what scent they had, than
which nothing more can be expected ; and jumping up from a
Ledge-row in which he had waited, our fox was ran in to view. We
ound another in Spring Park, a large covert of Mr. Maberley's,
which we could make nothing of ; but drawing on late in the day,
we found a good old fox in Fatleigh Park, and killed him at the
end (San hour and a half, at a very good pace. In the first of
these runs, a gentleman got a very bad fall, at three-parts speed,
in one of the flinty lanes, with which thin country abounds, and
had a rarrow escape for his life. His horse, I understand, was
miserably cut, and himself very 'seriously injured.
In one of my former letters on some hunting country, I men-
tioned the evils of a licentious field, and here I win prepared to
witness them ; but I was agreesibly surprised to see every thing so
quiet, particularly when we found our fox ; for that is the time
when mischief is too often dote; and I have often thought it would
be a great benefit to sport, if there was no such word as " tallyho"
in the vocabulary of hunting. A fox is one of the shyest animals
in nature, and particulatly avoids the " garish eye of day ;" and
when lie is saluted at every corner of a covert with a halloo of this
description, it often prevents his going well away, if it does not
cause him to be chopped by the pack. In :his instance, however,
he had very fair play, and after turning once in the covert, having
been met accidentally by Freeman he broke in good style, with
' a fair chance for Lis life, and the bounds also were allowed to settle
well to the chase. I thought they tried hard to kill him, and I
have no bmitatioa in saying, that In a better country he .ouhl
not have lited so king as he did. Had they been able to have held
on with him at one time, there would have been great distress in ;
the field, front the circumstance of a very ugly stile, at the bottom ;
of • steep foot-path in a small coppice, where only one could go at
a time, and a steep hill to ascend on the other side.
As may naturally be supposed, the greater part of the 'ulna-rib- I
en to the Surrey hounds are gentlemen connected with trade in (
the metropolis, though some of them reside in the country. They i
are distinguished by green collars to their scarlet coats, and they i
meet three tunes a wetk, when weather permits. 'file principal '
manager of the concern, and whom I heard the servants address by j
the appellation of " master," is a gentleman of the name of Haigh,
who resides at Furze-down, near Streatham, and also was formerly
in trade. Ile has been a sportsman, and report says a good one,
for many years of his life ; was an intimate friend of Mr. Illaber-
ley's ; and appeared to do the honours of the field very much like
a gentleman.
As may also be supposed to be the case, where bounds are kept
by subscription from gentlemen not chiefly resident is thelcountry,
a good deal of 'n Ware wheat !" " Ware seeds!" and " Ware
turnips !" is to be heard ; so that, in this ploughed country, riding
any thing like straight to hounds is out of the question, independ-
ent of other circumstances. The fences on the hills are trifling
compered with other countries, and are such as are generally met
with on light land. The hills arc troublesome and distressing—
some of the field not liking to go fast down them, and others not
being able to go fast up them. An old acquaintance of mine,*
whom I recognised among the crows!, and whom I had seen riding
very well, when at Oxford, informed me that he had found the
better way to cross this country was to go a good slapping pace
dawn the hills, when the impetus of his horse assisted him in get-
ting up them. This, however, does not do for nil nerves ; but,
perhaps, it is not generally known, that horses never fall when
going straight dorm steep hills, from the circumstance of their
haunches being so much under them. That very celebrated sports.
man, Mr. Childe, of Kinlett, whose name is immortalised in the
Bilk:dors Coptuis poem, as " the first who introduced the present
spirited manner of riding to hounds," proved this, when lie hunted
Shropshire. Ile was in the habit of riding down the Clee hills (the
worst and roughest ground in England, being intersected with
large pieces of iron stone) with a slack rein ; and in answer to those
situ told hint he would break his neck, he assured then then from
the position his horse went in, he could not fall.
The most disagree.able circumstance attending the Surrey hills
is the flints, which, in most places, exceed in size and quantity
those met with in any other counties. They cut both hounds and
horses, the latter being frequently spoiled by then. It not unfre-
gond; happens, that they divide the tendon of a horse's leg, so
that on his ruler dismounting him, he finds his toe turning up-
wards ! lie is, of course, ever after, useless. This accounts for
no large prices being given fur hunters in Surrey—about NO
guineas being the top of the tree. IVere Ito hunt constantly in it,
I should prefer stallions or mares, as they would be of some use
after such an accident had happened to them.
Thorough-bred horses, and others with long yielding pasterns,
arc arc most liable to suffer front the flints; wherein short-jointed and
stung-legged ones, with the hair suffered to grow on the fetlocks,
are the most likely to escape. Tall horses also are not calculated
for the Surrey hills, but they must be horses of power, and more
than equal to the weight they carry, or they cannot go up the hills.
They should also be stning in their loins, and clear winded, with
quick use of their hind legs, and with large lengthy shoulders. It
is sty opinion, that the less they are interfered with in their na-
tural action when galloping, the less is the probability of their
keing cut. It is also my opinion that no horse that hunts the
Surrey hills, and is ridden hard, should have either hay or water
after tour o'clock the preceding evening, unless (which should not
be the case) he !save been with hounds two days before. A full
atom:tell must be very much against him—causing the viscera to
press against the diaphragm, by which means the lungs are im-
peded in their action, and dangerous consequences ensue. Doubt-
less to this cause is often to be attributed the number of horses
that have died after hard runs in this county ; and in one instance
that I koow of, the diaphragm, or what the butchers call the mid-
riff, was completely ruptured. ma
From this cause also, the air
vessels of the lungs are injured. A double allowance of corn
then, with two double handfuls of hay-and-straw chaff in each
feed, should be the stint for a Surrey hunter on the evening before
hunting ; and if he is not content with this, he should be set on the
muzzle fat the night.
I cannot say that .1 saw many clever horses with the Surrey
hounds ; but they Ire for the most part much disfigured by their
saddles and bridles, whit.% are of all sorts and descemptious but the
right. None but those who have paid attention to it, know how
much a hunter by. a covert's aide is indebted to a good saddle and
bridle for his appearance--no less so than is his rider to good boots
and breeches. - Martingales, running reins, and rings or. the ?rims,
shade my. bows (quite new to tr.o, not omitting some painted fronts,
are conspicuous among the horses which come out of London, as
are also straight-cut coats and leather breeches amongst their riders.
Of the nse of brim: of this Nature, I never count satisfy myself, and
martingalo are quite exploded. Tom Solidi was asked one day in
Leicestershire, why he did not ride a certain horse of his in a
martingale ? " Oh," said he, "my left hand shall be my martin-
gale." I, howqer, observed one gentleman in Surrey with two
reins to his snaffle bridle—one passing through his martingale, and
the otherthrough a ring. Perhaps be may have been one of " the
fnesowimelidttihi:i.inbil:t annth,drodsw,,oevwnbi2sertrni however, thmeseinedgenrlemenbe 'lett all liiiiiinci?intheel rtoiniglo."milschsaiewf
but, th,e,
icloonidtrahririyr4 they! were very obedient to the
tionlisesmpeucsttinbge tibluenrtiedders,
asi nlt 14earsrnroetyhhadunatn,
oopfpocorutursen
it
of witness-
ing my oinierva-
them ; but perhaps I may be allowed to say, that every man
_ __

• Mr. Dyke, son of Sir Thomas Dyke.