120 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM

loosely built, and splayfooted hound of former generations had been left behind. To such perfection, indeed, had the Foxhound attained, that long before the close of the eighteenth century sportsmen were clamouring as to what a Foxhound could do.

With so much prominence given to the Foxhound in the comparatively short period of forty or fifty years, it is no wonder that individual hounds became very celebrated in almost every part of the country. Mr. Pelham's Rockwood Tickler and Bumper were names well known in Yorkshire, and Lord Ludlow's Powerful and Growler were talked of both in Lincolnshire and Warwickshire. From the first, indeed, it appeared that certain hounds were very much better than others, and old huntsmen have generally declared for one which was in the whole length of their careers (sometimes extending to fifty years) immeasurably superior to all others they had hunted. Harry Ayris, who was for just half a century with Lord FitzHardinge, declared to the day of his death that nothing had equalled Cromwell ; Osbaldeston said the same of Furrier, and Frank Gillard never falters from the opinion that Weathergage was quite by himself as the best hound he ever hunted. The Foxhound Kennel Stud Book abounds in the strongest proofs that hereditary merit in their work has been transmitted from these wonderful hounds, and they really make the history of the Foxhound.

There have been many great hounds ; but there must be the greatest of the great, and the following twelve hounds are probably the best England has ever seen:Mr. Corbet's Trojan (1780), Lord Middleton's Vanguard (1815), Mr.Osbaldeston's Furrier (1820), Lord Henry Bentinck's Contest (1848), Lord FitzHardinge's Cromwell (1855), Mr. Drake's Duster (1844), Sir Richard Sutton's Dryden (1849) the Duke of Rutland's Senator (1862), Duke of Rutland's Weathergage (i874), the Earl of Coventry's Rambler (1874), Mr. E. P. Rawnsley's Freeman (1884), and the Grafton Woodman (1892).

Breeding Foxhounds is one of the most fascinating of all the pleasures of animal culture, as the above list, so full of extreme merit, can be traced for nearly a hundred and thirty years.

It cannot be said that the prices paid for Foxhounds in very recent times have greatly exceeded those of the past. In 1790 Colonel Thornton sold Merkin for four hogsheads of claret, and the seller to have two couples of the whelps. Then in 18o8 Mr. John Warde sold a pack of hounds to Lord Althorpe for 1,000 guineas, and the same gentleman sold another pack for the same sum a few years later. In 1838 Lord Suffield offered 3,000 guineas for Mr. Lambton's pack, and afterwads sold it to Sir Matthew White Ridley for 2,500. In 1834 Osbaldeston sold ten couples of bitches, all descendants of Furrier, for 2,000 sovereigns, or (100 a hound-a record that was almost eclipsed at the sale of Lord Politmore's hounds in 1870, when twentytwo couples of dog-hounds sold for 3,365 guineas.

Of late years there has been the sale of the Quorn for, it was said, £3,000, and the late Lord Willoughby de Broke valued the North Warwickshire for the county to purchase at (2,500. In 1903 the Atherstone was valued by Mr. Rawlence, the well-known representative of Tattersall's, at £3,500, or something like £5o a hound, and that has been considered very cheap. If, therefore, modern prices have not greatly exceeded those of the far past, there has not been any particular diminution, and there is no doubt about it that if certain packs could be purchased the prices would far exceed anything ever reached before.

Foxhounds have very much improved in looks during the past five-and-twenty years, and unquestionably they are quite as good in the field or better. Whenever hounds have good foxes in front of them, and good huntsmen to assist or watch over them, they are as able as ever, notwithstanding that the drawbacks to good sport are more numerous now than they used to be. The noble hound will always be good enough, and ever and anon this is shown by a run of the Great Wood order, to hunt over five-and-twenty to thirty miles at a pace

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THE FOXHOUND

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