THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



hunt the wolf with foxhounds was not altogether 

 a success, and the experiment was not repeated. 



A lawn meet at Badminton in those days was 

 a great function in the neighbourhood, and we find 

 it recorded that on January 17th, 1863, no less 

 than 5,000 people were assembled. " More than 

 1,000 sat down to breakfast, beside, as the chronicler 

 relates, four or five hundred of the upper classes, 

 for whom luncheon was provided. There were 

 plenty of foxes," and that the Duke's hospitality 

 had been abundant, we gather from the fact that 

 the reporter says he saw more than twenty falls 

 in the course of the morning's sport. 



In 1864 the members and farmers of the hunt 

 presented the Duke and Duchess with their por- 

 traits. The picture, painted by Sir Francis Grant 

 in his well-known style, still hangs at Badminton. 

 From a writer of this period we find that the hunt 

 was fashionable, and we have already seen that it 

 was popular. 



But if for a moment we pass from the house to 

 the kennel, which is indeed an easy walk, we shall 

 find that the distinction that had marked the Bad- 

 minton hounds in times past was maintained. 



In 1866 the Duke and Tom Clark had a won- 

 derfully fine pack. There were many famous 

 hounds in kennel. Marplot, which strained back 

 to Justice, the somewhat coarse hound Philip Payne 

 delighted in, and which was to the Beaufort kennels 

 almost what Rallywood was to Belvoir. Then 



226 



