JOHN WARDE 49 



on-Avon. Trojan was entered in 1780, therefore it is 

 not possible he should have formed a portion of the 

 working hounds so many years afterwards : it was with 

 his progeny that Mr. Corbet shone so conspicuously as a 

 master of fox-hounds. 



As an extensive breeder of hounds of the old school, 

 the late Mr. John Warde stands pre-eminent. This 

 highly esteemed and worthy specimen of the English 

 country gentleman died in London, Dec. 9th, 1838, at 

 the great age of eighty-six, having been a master of 

 hounds during the lengthened period of fifty-six years. 

 To render this statement explicit it is necessary to 

 remark that he sold his last pack to Mr. W. Horlock in 

 1826 for 2,000 guineas, at which time he was hunting 

 the Craven country in Berkshire. Mr. Warde must 

 have commenced at a very early age, as prior to 1776 

 he hunted the country around Westerham, in Kent, 

 when he went to Yattenden, in Berkshire, but only 

 remained there two seasons. During the succeeding 

 eighteen seasons he occupied that part of the country 

 in Oxfordshire which is situated near Bicester, and, as 

 I am given to understand, he also at the same period 

 hunted Warwickshire for a part of the season ; but that 

 could only have been prior to Mr. Corbet's time. Mr. 

 Warde subsequently hunted the Pytchley country, and 

 made an addition to his kennel by procuring some 

 hounds from his predecessor, the Earl Spencer. In 1808 

 Lord Althorpe purchased the hounds at the previously 

 unheard-of price of 1,000 guineas, and took the country 

 in which they had been hunting. On this transaction 

 Mr. Warde made a reservation of a few of his bitches, 

 wherewith he was enabled to continue his own blood, 

 and making purchases from other establishments soon 

 raised another pack, with which he commenced opera- 

 tions in the New Forest, where he continued about six 

 years, and then hunted the Craven country until the 

 end of the season, 1826. Mr. Horlock at that time came 

 forward with 2,000 guineas, in exchange for which he 

 obtained the hounds, and Mr. Warde retired from the 

 D 



