Preface. xiii 



an occasion when formerly a fox could not l^e killed at the 

 end of a run because a sufficient number of hounds were 

 not left to do this, whereas now their condition has so 

 much improved that but few are missing at the finish of 

 the severest run. At the same time it is a great mistake 

 to suppose that hounds were not bred for speed as well as 

 nose in olden days. The pictures that we have of 

 celebrated packs and individual liounds go to jjrove this, 

 and the records of the care taken in their breeding, at all 

 events in certain packs like the Belvoir, the Brocklesby, 

 and the FitzwilHam, &c., are certain^evidences of the same 

 fact. No sport is perfect without its difficulties, and these 

 are now increased by the size of the field and by the large 

 number of drivers in carriages and pedestrians, who have 

 as much right as anyone else to enjoy the sport. There is, 

 fortunately, less barbed wire in this country than in some 

 of the remaining shires, and in no county in England is 

 foxhunting more warmly supported by all classes of the 

 community. One of the most striking and gratifying 

 evidences of this is not only the way in which the farmers 

 of Warwickshire have always been favourable to the sport, 

 but also the keen interest shown in it by the labouring- 

 class. We have heard a very keen foxhunter* declare that 

 one of the things which made him regret his no longer 

 being able to reside in the county was this, that the people 

 he met about the fields took, comparatively speaking, so little 

 interest in the chase. In Warwickshire one only has to 

 say " Grood morning ! Have you seen the hounds ? " to be 



In this match Mr. Meyiiell's hound Richmond was beaten 100 yards, while his partner 

 did not run the course through. Of sixty horsemen only twelve came in with the 

 hounds, Mr. Barry's huntsman, Cooper, being first, having "rode" the mare that 

 carried biui quite blind. Mr. Mejniell's hounds liad been fed on legs of mutton during 

 their training. This match is very interesting to us, as showing the pace that hounds 

 could go even before the close of the last century.- — [Rev. T. E. G. Pui.eston's 

 " Wynnstay Country."] 



* The Rev. Hugh Holbech, late of Wliittington Rectory, Salop ; now Vicar of 

 Farnborough, Warwickshire. 



