CHAPTER IV 

 The Badminton Hounds 



THE speculations so often indulged in by writers 

 on hunting as to the exact date of the origin 

 of fox-hunting, appear to lead to no certain conclu- 

 sion. 



There is, in fact, no period at which we can say 

 positively that fox-hunting began. The sport as we 

 know it grew up as the result chiefly of the decay of 

 stag-hunting, owing to the increase of enclosures. 

 No doubt the fox had been hunted occasionally from 

 an early date, and by no family earlier than the 

 Somersets. That the fox was hunted round Rag- 

 lan Castle by the first Marquis, of whom I have 

 already written as a jovial person fond of sport with 

 hawk and hound, is likely enough. Some writers 

 have even fixed the date 1642 as that of the first 

 fox-hunt indulged in by a member of the family, 

 and this again is not unlikely. 



From the year 1728 onwards we have trust- 

 worthy materials for a history of the pack. The 



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