212 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



viously they had only occasional tastes of it. The 

 country to which the appointments of the royal buck- 

 hounds are principally confined is that around the 

 Ascot kennels, extending from Beaconsfield on the 

 north to Woking on the south. Hayes is the nearest 

 point to London, and the Warren House the most 

 distant in a westerly direction. In the neighbourhood 

 of Windsor, Salt Hill, Slough, Riching's Park, Beacons- 

 field, Gerard's Cross, Red Hill, Denham, and 

 Uxbridge, there is a fair proportion of grass, and in 

 many parts some strong fences. In that about Ascot, 

 Swinley (comprising Bagshot Heath,) Chobham, 

 Woking, and Bracknell, it is of a sandy, peaty char- 

 acter, which in wet weather is exceedingly deep and 

 distressing to horses. There is much heath, and like- 

 wise several extensive fir plantations, which are impedi- 

 ments to first-rate sport. These hounds have been a 

 great acquisition to the admirers of stag-hunting 

 residing in London, and particularly to the officers 

 quartered in and near to Windsor; perhaps more 

 so previously to the establishment of railroads, which 

 convey them most expeditiously into fox-hunting 

 quarters. 



The next pack of stag-hounds which demands notice 

 were those of Earl Derby, the grandfather of the 

 present Earl, who established them about the year 

 1780, and kept them with princely magnificence till 

 1830, when declining health and the infirmities of age 

 precluded his lordship from participating in the sport, 

 and he presented the hounds and deer to his old and 

 trusty huntsman, Jonathan Griffin. They were kept 

 on two years by subscription, with Mr. Maberly as the 

 principal manager; but although there was no defici- 

 ency of funds that gentleman declined the management 

 and no one else being disposed to embark in the respon- 

 sibilities, they were sold at Tattersall's in 1832. During 

 the time Lord Derby kept them the kennels were at the 

 Oaks, and their sport was principally confined to the 

 county of Surrey. 



