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THE BEAUFORT KENNELS 131 



before any other country to hunt in. But not being so 

 ambitious, I should be perfectly contented with three 

 or four good horses, with a convenient house and stabling 

 in a central part of the Heythrop country. It is not 

 one in which the wear and tear of horseflesh is great ; 

 there are decidedly more than an average of good runs 

 during the season ; it is an agreeable country to ride 

 over; and the noble owner of the pack is a most affable 

 and accomplished sportsman. 



Before the close of the year in which the sixth Duke 

 of Beaufort resigned the Heythrop country, his Grace 

 was called 'to that bourne from whence no traveller 

 returns.' On the 23rd of November 1835 the noble duke 

 expired at his seat, Badminton, in the sixty-ninth year 

 of his age. 



It generally happens on the decease or retirement of 

 a master of hounds that considerable changes take place, 

 and the pack very frequently suffers materially in con- 

 sequence. A son or successor usually fancies he can 

 improve upon the works of his ancestor or predecessor, 

 and in attempting to do so by hasty proceedings very 

 commonly finds himself in a' labyrinth of error. A fresh 

 huntsman is probably engaged, and selected from the 

 ranks of hard-riding whippers-in, in whose opinion the 

 old pack is too slow, and, endeavouring to remedy that 

 failing, heaps confusion on confusion. This, however, 

 was not the case on the death of the Duke of Beaufort. 

 The same huntsman wag retained ; the same hounds 

 remained in the kennels ; the same good taste pre- 

 dominated in selecting hounds worthy of the honour of 

 perpetuating their species; and, excellent as they no 

 doubt were at the time Philip Payne handed over the 

 couples to William Long, I have no hesitation in pro- 

 nouncing them superior to what they were, at all events 

 according to the taste and opinion of the present day. 

 I well recollect going through the kennels in 1845, and 

 have the form of several of the favourite hounds in my 

 mind's eye at the present moment. Potentate was then 

 just entering into his prime; Flyer and Frankfort pos- 



