20 THE WAEWICKSHIRE HUNT. [1795 



leiio-tli. wlioro Iciiytli is iniuirffl ; more sj-nnuctrical in fact; more after 

 the fashion of Mr. Osbaldcston'-s Fnrrier and Vanlter sorts than Mr. 

 Corbet's were. The latter (Mr. Corbet's) were said to have suffered to a 

 certain extent from their owner too long perseveiino- in the iu-aud-iu 

 system of breeding the Trojan blood, as it was called ; Ijut from the 

 following character of the parent tree, wo cannot wonder at the high 

 value the possessor of it put upon its fruit. 



The history of the hound Trojan is an extraordinary one, from his 

 birth to his " death. It appears Mr. Cor])et apjilied to his brother. 

 Col. Andrew Corbet, whom I well remember amongst the Northampton- 

 shire sportsmen of l)y-gone days, to purchase him a pack of harriers, 

 which he did at TattersaU's ; and amongst tliem Avas a bitch called 

 Tidings (a real harrier's name, by the bye), who, being so excellent in her 

 work, and evidently a dwarf foxhound, was kept when the pack was 

 sold, and Mr. Corbet became, in conjunction with Mr. Powys, a master of 

 foxlioiinds. She was sent to the late Earl Spencei-'s kennel at Pytchley, and 

 put to a hound called Trueboy, and the produce was the celebrated Trojan. 

 It has, however, jiever been satisfactorily ascertained that Lord Spencer had 

 at that time a dog called Truel)oy, which has always thrown a doubt over 

 Trojan's legitimacy. Trojan, however, had like to have been drafted, and 

 for a very singular reason, ty^iical, no doubt, of his excellence. He would 

 not look at a hare, to which Mr. Corbet at that period entered his puppies, 

 and was for that reason considered slack, and unlikely to enter well to his 

 own nu)re noble game. He would just stoop to feel what was on foot, 

 when instantly he left his companions, and came to the huntsman's horse, 

 and remained there all the time their hunting continued, seeming to dislike 

 and bo dissatisfied with the proceedings — so much so that Mr. C. and his 

 huntsman despaired of ever getting him to enter. 



But Mr. C. did not end with stooping to hares, his object being first to 

 get his puppies to stoop to scent ; and as soon as this was effectually 

 established he turned cubs before them. Here Trojan showed his nature, 

 for no sooner was he engaged with a fox than he gave instant proof of his 

 skill and suj)eriority in every respect; and Mr. C. congratulated himself 

 that he had waited, and not too hastily parted with such a hound of promise 

 and expectations, and I believe there never was in any pack a more efficient 

 and perfect hound ever entered, and I have reason to Ijelieve, from the well 

 authenticated anecdotes related of hiin, that a more perfect foxhound than 

 Trojan never Imnted a fox ; and it is asserted witli reference to his con- 

 stitution — one of the inducements, no doulit, to persevere with his blood — 

 that from the period of his being entered, which was in 1780, until the end 

 of the season, 1788, he was never lame, nor did he ever remain in his kemiel 

 when it was his turn to hunt. This, it will be seen, was most extraordinary ; 

 not only that he shoixld have escaped the usual trifling accidents from thorns. 

 Sec, but from his great leaping powers, which I shall presently allude to. 

 To sum up his character, however, it is said of him that in his work he was, in 

 every sense of the tenu, to be depended upon. His speed enabled him to be 

 at the head to guide the pack ; he could also hunt over a dry fallow or a I'oad, 

 like a southern harrier; and his stoutness was such that he always came 

 home, after the hardest days, with his stern up, fresh and gay to the last. 



But his leaping powers ! I will relate what has been recorded of them, 

 and on indisputable authority : — 



