108 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



seat at Sudbury, thus dividing the hunting season in the 

 two countries. These hounds were in great repute, and 

 esteemed among the most celebrated of the day. 

 Instead of wearing the prevailing colour, scarlet, in the 

 hunting field, Lord Vernon and the members of the 

 hunt appeared in coats of a bright orange, which, so 

 long as they were new and fresh, must have presented 

 a very gay appearance. The distinction of costume 

 occasioned much rivalry between the members of this 

 and other hunts when they happened to meet in the 

 field. There was jealous riding even in those days. 



Matters went on thus for several seasons, when in 1805 

 Lord Vernon gave them up to the Hon. George Talbot, 

 and they were kept by subscription, his lordship giving 

 500 per annum, which was liberally augmented by 

 other noblemen and gentlemen in the neighbourhood, 

 and they were called Lord Talbot 's hounds, in conse- 

 quence of the ostensible manager being a member of 

 the Church. That gentleman's death in 1812 occasioned 

 another change, when some of the hounds were sold, 

 and the remainder kept at Sudbury a short time by 

 Mr. Harbord, Lord Vernon's son-in-law, who confined 

 their operations to the immediate locality of the 

 kennels. 



At this period the late Colonel Cooke, a sportsman of 

 great celebrity, and author of Observations on Fox- 

 hunting, hunted a portion of that which was not 

 retained by the Sudbury hounds, and Mr. Adderley, of 

 Hams Hall, hunted the Gopsal side, or that in the 

 neighbourhood of Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield, but 

 where I cannot clearly define. The late Sir Richard 

 Pulestone visited the vacant district, whichever that 

 was, occasionally, having at the same time another 

 country in Shropshire. But these gentlemen made way 

 for Mr. Osbaldeston. Messrs. Hall and Arkwright also 

 hunted some portion of it, but only for a short period ; 

 and, as they sold their hounds to Mr. Osbaldeston, it 

 must have been prior to the decease of Lord Vernon, 

 which event took place in 1818. Mr. Adderley, of Hams 



