THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



scent when required. No one was quicker away 

 from covert than Hills. So famous was he, the 

 memory of the sport he showed being still green 

 in my own undergraduate days, that he certainly 

 deserves a place among the famous servants of the 

 Badminton Hunt. 



But to return to Long — good as he was as 

 a huntsman, he was no writer. I have before 

 me his diaries. He kept in them the barest re- 

 cord of the sport, with no echo of the enthusiasm 

 he felt. His journals are consequently somewhat 

 dry reading, and we have to turn to other pages to 

 obtain an idea of the sport enjoyed by the hunt. 

 The seventh Duke was still able to ride, and had 

 not yet taken to the well-known phaeton with the 

 postillions and outriders and the skewbald horses 

 that later became a feature of the field. The eighth 

 Duke was yet a boy, though keen about hounds and 

 hunting, for Long testifies that he was an excellent 

 whipper-in. 



It was on January 20th, 1842, that the Badminton 

 hounds had one of those runs that may well be 

 called historic. Stanton Park was the fixture, and 

 that well-known covert the draw. Hounds replied 

 to Long's opening cheer with a challenge. In a 

 moment more the famous badger pies were throw- 

 ing their tongues with a charming chorus. The 

 music of the hounds — there is none like it for those 

 who love the chase — rang through the wood and 

 told of a good scent. On the Draycot side hounds 



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