198 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



ment which he maintains entirely at his own expense, 

 and the superior sport which these hounds afford in a 

 country by no means first-rate is incontestible evidence 

 of the judgment with which the hunting arrangements 

 are conducted. Considering that Mr. Smith had been 

 for many years accustomed to hunt in the Quorn and 

 Belvoir Vale, where grass, ox-fences and gorse coverts 

 prevail, it occasions some surprise that this celebrated 

 sportsman could reconcile himself to so great a change. 

 The possession of property around his mansion may 

 have been the inducement, and a more worthy impulse 

 cannot be suggested. Foxes are zealously preserved ; 

 indeed it would be ungrateful of the landowners if they 

 were not mindful of such a return for Mr. Smith's 

 liberality. 



It will be gleaned from the letter of my friend that 

 Mr. Powlett Powlett occasionally brought his hounds to 

 Overt on to hunt the surrounding neighbourhood. About 

 the commencement of the present century the late Mr. 

 Chute of the Vine near Basingstoke kept a pack of 

 harriers, which he very soon converted into fox-hounds 

 and established the country known by the name of the 

 estate. Having been a master of hounds some thirty 

 years this gentleman is said to have formed an exceed- 

 ingly clever pack famed for stoutness and symmetrical 

 proportions. The quaint motto over the kennel door, 

 Multum in parvo, was particularly characteristic of 

 their merits. They are to this day spoken of by old 

 sportsmen who were in the habit of hunting with them 

 as having been remarkably well adapted to the 

 country, and showing a vast deal of sport. Mr. Chute 

 at his decease in 1824 left a sum of money to be paid 

 annually to the support of his favourites, provided they 

 still retained the name of ' The Vine Hounds.' After 

 that event they were kept during very short periods by 

 Mr. Beaver and Mr. Pole of West Ham, when Mr. 

 Henry Fellowes undertook the management of them, 

 and, I have every reason to believe, improved them 

 considerably by procuring the best blood and drafts 



