The 1859 season was a highly successful one. There were, as I have already said, no less than 58 subscribers. The staff was the same, and the names of the hounds are given in the [appendix] at the end. Ricardo and Lord Parker used to whip in when the regular whips were absent. No more attempts were made on the part of the Head Master to put down the Beagles. Here are some of the best runs:
“Monday, Feb. 28th. Met at Athens. In coming to the meet the fox got out of the bag and we could not find him for 1½ hours. Had a most splendid run to Stoke of about five miles, and he went to ground in a hollow tree. We could not find him, but since learned where he was and sent for him.
“Friday, 11th March. Met at Easy Bridge. Turned down a fresh untried fox which came from London this morning. I got him from Rebbets, Leadenhall Market. He was very wild and gave us a very quick 2½ miles run to Aldridge’s, where the hounds ran him into a pond, and we could not get him out, for he got among some rushes in the middle. At last I offered 10s. to any one who would get him out, and Alf Joel took his coat and waistcoat off and swam in and caught him by the brush and pulled him out.”
The sequel to this incident is not so amusing. The fox was so perished by his adventure in the pond that he died the same night in spite of attempts to revive him with brandy before the kitchen fire of a farmhouse.
“Wednesday, 16th March. Met at Cuckoo Weir. Had a capital run with the big fox to Slough, where he ran to ground on the railway line about ¼ mile from the station. We could not get him out of the pipe he had run up, and two bull terriers and several navvies were at work more than four hours digging him out. We found a leveret and ran and killed it there. The hounds did not get home till 6 o’clock.”
Edward Charrington.
(Founder of the Oppidan Beagles.)
But the run of the season comes as late as Thursday, 28th of March. The entry is as follows: