94 MEMOIR OF 



of chase and hunting, than was afforded by 

 the estabhshment of Stover, under the super- 

 intendence of this memorable triumvirate." 



When a bagman was about to be turned 

 out it was always done in view of the hounds, 

 Templer standing among them with his hunt- 

 ing-watch open in hand ; nor would a hound 

 attempt to stir till fair law had been allowed, 

 and the last word of the signal, " One, two, 

 away ! " bid them to the chase. A hound, 

 called " Guardsman," had become so very know- 

 ing at the work that, instead of looking after 

 the fox, he kept his eye fixed on the watch ; 

 and, the moment he saw^ the case closed, 

 away he went, like an arrow from a bow. 



The business then was to save the fox alive ; 

 and, whether he were a wild fox or a bagman, 

 such w^as the hard riding and such the obedience 

 of the hounds to a rate, that, nine times out of 

 ten, the animal was picked up before them, with- 

 out a hair of his skin being broken. Blood was 

 a finale to which, at home, they were never 

 treated, and yet a harder-driving lot never 

 entered a cover. But as Nimrod, after his 

 visit at Stover, tells us, *'To show that Mr. 

 Tempter's hounds can kill foxes when suffered 

 to do so, it may not be amiss to mention that 

 whilst they were at North Molton, for the 

 purpose of hunting alternate days w4th Mr. 

 Fellowes's or Sir Arthur Chichester's hounds, 



