SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



In the same year the present pack of hounds 

 was purchased by Colonel Douglas-Pennant 

 (afterwards Lord Penrhyn) from Mr. John Hill, 

 of Thornton Hall, near Pickering, Yorkshire, 

 and presented to the country. The price was 

 £^0 a couple, old and young ; Frank Beers 

 went to Yorkshire to complete the purchase 

 and bring back the hounds. A few couple of 

 Lord Southampton's dog hounds found their 

 way back to the Grafton, and thus kept the 

 famous ' Furrier ' blood in the kennel. Frank 

 Beers had the highest opinion of the Belvoir 

 blood, and bred much from the Belvoir 

 Weathergage. 



Frank Beers, when little more than a lad, 

 took service with a Polish count to hunt 

 wolves in Poland ; he remained in that 

 country until the insurrection broke out in 

 1863, when all foreigners were ordered to 

 leave. Beers thus had considerable experience 

 in hunting before he carried the horn with the 

 Grafton, and though at first not very success- 

 ful he rapidly improved. Charles (William) 

 Wheatley at this time was first and Tom Smith 

 second whipper-in. 



During Beers' first season the Grafton had 

 a fine run from Halse Copse to Canons Ashby, 

 killing their fox handsomely in the open after 

 running from scent to view in an hour and a 

 half. On this run Sir Herewald Wake wrote 

 a long poem which is printed in Mr. Elliott's 

 book. From 1870 until he retired Beers kept 

 careful diaries of all his runs. The greater 

 part of these diaries has been printed in 

 Mr. Elliott's Fifty Tears' Fox-Hunting. 



On 19 January, 1874, hounds, while run- 

 ning a fox from Easton Neston Gardens, had 

 a narrow escape, more than half of them 

 going down the railway cutting at Roade. 

 Fortunately not one was hurt ; the train 

 pulled up in the cutting to allow them to 

 escape. 



On 2 November, 1874, the Grafton found 

 a fox in Salcey Forest, and killed him in the 

 rectory garden at Harpole, a lo-mile point, 

 and 16 miles at least as hounds ran. 



The 7 March, 1876, was a red-letter day 

 with the Grafton. The Duke arranged a 

 private meet in the afternoon at Wakefield 

 for the Empress of Austria (who was staying 

 at Easton Neston), the ex-King and Queen of 

 Naples and suite. Fire Furze did not hold a 

 fox, but they found in Colonel FitzRoy's new 

 covert and lost after a short run. Beers 

 writes that they 



found again in Stoke Park. Went away past 

 Stoke Plain, Plane Woods to the left to Roade 

 Station ; did not go over the line, ran by the side 

 of it to Ashton village, and killed him at the Ash 

 Bed. A very pretty run. The empress rode 



beautifully, and expressed her great delight to 

 me, and thanked me very much indeed for the 

 good sport. I had the honour of presenting 

 Her Majesty with the brush. The queen 

 of Naples went well also. The Austrian counts 

 and princes also rode capitally ; one got a good 

 cropper. 



On 31 March, the Empress, Prince Teck, 

 and other distinguished people were at the 

 meet at Radstone, and a good day's hunting 

 ensued. This was the last time during the 

 season that the Empress was out. 



Beers mentions a curious instance of the 

 sagacity of a hound. As they were going into 

 Allithorn covert 



an old bitch, Sprightly, was standing pointing 

 at something in the dry grass. I rode to her 

 and saw that she had before her nose five 

 beautiful cubs ; so I got the hounds off the 

 line of the mother and left the covert as soon as 

 possible. 



In 1876 Tom Smith was appointed as first 

 and Edward Cole as second whip. 



On 2 February, 1877, there was a splendid 

 run from Whistley Wood over a stiff line of 

 country. Beers says he ' never saw hounds 

 run harder or horses made such an example 

 of.' 



During the season 1876-7 hounds were 

 only stopped twice by frost ; they killed 51^ 

 brace of foxes, a greater number than had 

 ever been killed before in this country during 

 the season. 



In the spring of 1882, the Duke, through 

 failing health, retired, after hunting the country 

 handsomely for twenty years. The Hon. 

 George S. Douglas-Pennant (now Lord Pen- 

 rhyn) was then chosen master. 



At this time the kennels were at Wakefield 

 and the stables for the hunt horses at Tow- 

 cester. This arrangement proved so inconve- 

 nient that in the year 1891 stables were made 

 at Paulerspury out of farm buildings, and the 

 following year hounds were moved to the new 

 kennels in the same village. 



On 4 December, 1882, hounds met at Pres- 

 ton Capes. They found in HogstafF, and killed 

 their fox close to Fawsley, after running him 

 for 3^ hours. Beers held this one of the best 

 runs he ever saw. 



Mr. J. M. K. Elliott considered the run of 

 15 February, 1884, the best he ever saw ; he 

 still possesses the mask of the vixen. Hounds 

 ran through thirteen parishes, and through 

 parts of the Pytchley, Bicester, and Warwick- 

 shire countries. They met at Wappenham, 

 and found in an uncultivated field near 

 Weedon Bushes. The fox went away be- 

 tween Weedon Coppice and village by Oakley 



^71 



