This district is not so easy for a stranger to ride his own line over as the Midlands; it is not half so stiff, but it is often cramped and trappy.  But then you must “look before you leap” in most countries nowadays.  In this Friday country wire is comparatively scarce.  The fields run very large on this day,—­quite two hundred horsemen are to be seen at favourite fixtures.  About half this number would belong to the country, and the other half come from the duke’s country and elsewhere.  These Friday fields are as well mounted and well appointed as any in England.  And to see a run one must have a good horse,—­not necessarily an expensive one, for “good” and “expensive” are by no means synonymous terms with regard to horseflesh.  It is with regret that we must add that foxes were decidedly scarce here last season (1897-8).

On Saturdays the Cirencester brigade will hunt with Mr. Miller.  Fairford, Lechlade, Kempsford, and Water-Eaton are some of the meets.  Here we have a totally different country from any yet considered.  It is a wonderfully sporting one; and last season these hounds never had a bad Saturday, and often a ‘clinker’ resulted.  Here again one can never anticipate what sort of ground will be traversed; but the best of it consists of a fine open country of grass and plough intermingled, the fields being intersected by small flying fences and exceptionally wide and deep ditches.  “Snowstorm”—­a small gorse half way between Fairford and Lechlade stations on the Great Western Railway—­is a favourite draw.  If a fox goes away you see men sitting down in their saddles and cramming at the fences as hard as their horses can gallop.  There appears to be nothing to jump until you are close up to the fence; but nevertheless pace is required to clear them, for there is hardly a ditch anywhere round “Snowstorm” that is not ten feet wide and eight feet or more deep, and if you are unlucky your horse may have to clear fourteen feet.  On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing that a horse going fast cannot clear almost without an effort if he jumps at all.  So you may ride in confidence at every fence, and take it where you please.  The depth of the ditch is what frightens a timid horse and, I may add, a timid rider; and if your horse stops dead, and then tries to jump it standing, you are very apt to tumble in.

A rare sporting country is this district; and as the horses and their riders know it, there are comparatively few falls.  Round Kempsford and Lechlade the Thames and the canal are apt to get in the way, but once clear of these impediments a very open country is entered, either of grass and flying fences or light plough and stone walls.  Another style of country is that round Hannington and Crouch.  In old days, before wire was known, this used to be the best grass country in the V.W.H., but nowadays you must “look before you leap.”  With a good fox, however, hounds may take you into the best of the old Berkshire vale, and perhaps right up to the Swindon Hills.  Round Water-Eaton is a fine grass country, good enough for anybody; but the increase of wire is becoming more and more difficult to combat in this as in other grazing districts of England.