INTRODUCTION 



A SHORT account of the Club for which so 

 many of them were written will not, I hope, 

 be thought an inappropriate introduction to a new 

 edition of these Hunting Songs. 



The Tarporley Hunt was established in the year 

 1762, and their first meeting was held on the 14th 

 of November in that year. Hare-hunting was the 

 sport for which they then assembled. Those who 

 kept harriers brought out their packs in turn. If no 

 member of the Society kept hounds, or if it were 

 inconvenient to bring them, it is ordered by the 8th 

 Rule that a " Pack be borrowed and kept at the 

 expense of the Society." 



Societies such as the Cycle in Wales had in the 

 earlier years of the last century been favourite meet- 

 ing places for the Jacobite gentry ; but whatever 

 were the politics of the founders of Tarporley Club, 

 it was evidently the love of hunting only that 

 brought them together ; and from that day to this, 

 difference of political opinion has never been known 

 tp interfere with the election of the members, or to 

 disturb the harmony of the Club. 



The Founders were the Rev. Obadiah Lane, of 

 Longton, county of Stafford, who had married Sarah, 

 sister of the first Lord Crewe ; John Crewe, son of 



d XXV 



