The New York herald., 1879-03-09
FROST VS. FOX HUNTING.
The Severe Winter in England and Its Effect
Upon the Time Honored Sport
THE ACCIDENTS OF THE SEASON.
The Empress OF Austria in
Ireland.
LONDON, Feb. 25, 1879.

LONDON, Feb 25, 1879.
With six inches of snow covering the Midland shores
this the 25th day Of February. the present winter
may be set down as extraordinary in twenty
| years. Last year the host OF men and women who
galloped daily the fields and fonces of Leices
tershire in chase of kept indoors only six
| or seven days out of the entire Ave months which
constitute the fox hunting Horses were
''ft. foxes WE'LL the scent "lad as II should and
men and women enjoyed surfeit of the sport. This
year there were few favorable days before Christ
mas. and then the long frost set in compelling some
thousands OF horses to stand idle in their stables
'.eating their heads off, and costing their
mint Of money without returning hour of work.
DANGEROUS HUNrING GROUNDS.
Dangerous at any time. fox hunting becomes i'm
practicable when the ground is frozen to the depth
| of few inches. The horses. unable to get firm
footing in the roads and fields constant risk OF
breaking their legs the hard. slippery soil. and
the icy footing affords purchase for leaping ut
the fences and hedges. For eleven weeks the frost
continued without break while occasional falls of
snow made the usually open and green country Of
Leicestershre resemble the semi-Arctic regions of
Lower Canada. Hunting fretted and chafed;
horses, hounds and foxes grew fat, and
everybody interested in the sport dis
| contented Punch Of the last week pictured
the terrible condition Of the unemployed" owing
to the late frosts. by cartoon of three fat men
! unwieldy steeds. surrounded by obese and lazy
hounds. the long lack Of employment having sweled
parties to proportions ludicrously out
of keeping with the lean and active requirements
of the chase. Three weeks ago sudden thaw broke
| up the ground. and for fortnight the hunting
kept up in vigorous style. In that brief interval
more serious accidents happened than in all the
| previous year.
SEASON OF ACCIDENTS.
| The veteran Lord Grey De Wilton. of Melton Now
braw broke his leg badly. in consequence of fall
and is laid up at his residence in Melton Says the
Standard, of February Fl Ut is probable that there
have never before been many accidents in the
hunting Aeld-that is. of course. during the same
space Of time-as during the last few days. since
the frost. The London papers usually
tain at least every morning. the
try papers generally have several. and when
we consider that o falls hard and often before
he hurts himself and that only few cases of those
who injured recorded in the newspapers it is
that those dsagreeable incidents Of the chase
which indiferently referred spills crop
pers extremely plentiful. Nothing else was to
be anticipated. however; indeed everything has
helped to bring about such results. The ground is
terrible heavy In the poughs and the rides through
coverts it Is knee deep and still deeper in many
places. and under the fences there very often
miniature quagmires. Horses, though they may not
stay by reason Of almost inevitable bad condition
eager to go after their long nacton, and require
| both strong arms and delicate hands at the
beginning of run; and men who have hardly been
for six weeks try to make up for lost time
DS ees esenr in the way it viii be- Observed
namely. by horses falling at the fences. The take
of is. as q rule pond of liquid mud. with slippery
| bottom. Horses cannot rise fairly. and, landing
upon similar SOIL have disagreeable tendency to
pitch on their heads. After the deep fall of snow
which astonshed most people when they awoke this
morning, the going in the hunting field will be still
worse. One good thing is that If the ground makes
horses fall the falling is soft. else should hear
| of many more dangerous than do. Those
who prefer to remain in the saddle until they leave
it of their own accord will do well be particularly
| cautious for many days to come alter the snow has
Last saturday the frost set in again, and all day
Sunday the snow fell that the fox hunting shires
are iron bound ever. and the gallant riders
"up in town" cooling their heels and waiting for
thaw. severer season has never been known in
THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA.
Alluding to the visit OF the Empress of AUSTRIA
| who is now hunting in Ireland. the DAILY Telegraph
| in . long editorial. says:-"It is no slight comp
mcnt to the climate and attractions OF these islands
that an Empress who has some of the fairest
| health resorts in the world open to her within
| to devote few weeks to the enjoyment Of sport
| which accustomed to regard as possessing Pc
culiar charms for men. and we must add. for women
of English or Irish descent The time has passed by
| when objections generally entertained to the
participation Of ladies in pursuit which once
monopolized by supporters belonging exclusively to
the male sex. There s scarcely u county England
where ladies' not to be found regular atten
dants OF the meets and in many they have taught
| and skill which they show in the saddle.
the riding on aross country of Lady Florence
| Dixie is that. like that of Lord Grey de Will
ton; who has Jus. broker & his leg from faii 1t is
means the least gallant "Amazone of those who now
ed and the perfect horses that she rides enable
her to take her part with distinction in an ord
nary run. But it is by no means improbable that
within the next few days Her Imperial Majesty may
ceptional bursts which not untrequently follow upon
the heels of long FROST 1t was toward the close Of
February, in 1900, that the most celebrated in
the annals OF Leicestershire took place. from Bes-
den Coplow, and the last number of sporting
hsa such q galiop from the punchbow q famous CO.
vert belonging the Hartopp family set the sides
of many gallant horse sobb,ng. Upon the morning
! of the Saturday which In the afternoon wit
| messed this memorable run from the Punchbowl
there was also scurry with the same pack from Wy
| mondham. There was nothing of moment in this
first run. says the Leicestershre correspondent of
our contemporary. "unless we take the broad gully
| OF wymondham incident. Wide and ugly ~ it
was. no rider and horse made so light of 1t as did
Mrs. Candy and her chestnut" The Empress will
both of England and Ireland. who. like herself have
already distinction; but there will be only
sentinen in the breasts Of all who trot to the covert
side in the district which she is honorng with
her presence-a sentiment that each OF the sporting
islands which make up the United Kingdom OF Great
Britain and Ireland IL glad to Her Majesty In the
hunting field. and mounted upon horses that WILL 1t
is to be hoped. do no discredit to the country in
which they born and to the skill and soliciude
| with which they been trained.
| HUNTREss
| The following In description OF Her Majesty In
the saddle 1t taken from letter to the Cork
| siuti0n from Dunshauglin Her Imperial Majesty
the Empress of Austria realized all the pace and
pluck, the skill horseback and the daring
country of the followers of the Ward Union Hounds
The Empress hunted to-day tor the first time over
an Irish hunting country, ami II this afternoons
with the Wards is but oretate OF the pleasures
in store for this august patroness OF Diaila in
Ireland pretty likely to have the illustrous AUS
trian absentee never aftsrward. Her Majesty
wore very tight fitting habit OF dark grayish mel
ton cloth. the skirt of which was extremely narrow
The habit was fastened with buttons of silver.
| which the imperial arms. standup all
round collar and simple tie bow OF black silk COM
pcted her apparel, while she rode in tall silk hat
She wore her hair In PLAIN plaits behind. one
circling the other. Her hands were eneased in tan