214 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



ceeded twenty inches in height, but the pace they could 

 go over the gra$s grounds at Kites Hard wick, Priors 

 Marston or Ladbroke, was quite extraordinary, and for 

 stoutness they could not be excelled. They were 

 hunted in a very workmanlike style by their worthy 

 master, and the establishment was in every respect 

 ably conducted. The utmost neatness prevailed 

 throughout every department. 



Cheltenham has also, till the present season, had a 

 pack of stag-hounds, to which the Earl Fitzhardinge, 

 with his accustomed liberality, afforded support by 

 finding the deer and also occasional drafts of hounds, 

 although his lordship never joined them in the field. 

 A pack is likewise kept at Bath, but as few gentlemen 

 are willing to undertake the management and defray 

 the greater portion of the expenses out of their own 

 pockets, some difficulty is experienced in continuing 

 them. Nevertheless Captain West contends against 

 these obstacles with great perseverance. The 

 Cheltenham stag-hounds were certainly an accommoda- 

 tion to sportsmen residing there during the months when 

 Earl Fitzhardinge 's hounds are in their Berkeley 

 country. But at Bath it is rather a different affair. 

 The Duke of Beaufort's hounds are generally within 

 reach, if not by the road at all events by the rail ; the 

 amount of an annual subscription to stag-hounds will 

 defray the expenses by rail, and it certainly does not 

 involve any dereliction of taste to prefer hunting with 

 the duke to a pack of stag-hounds, let them be ever so 

 well appointed. 



The north of Devonshire and Somersetshire is the only 

 part of England where stag-hunting is conducted ac- 

 cording to the original fashion, where the game is 

 harboured by a man accustomed to that duty, who is 

 requited according to ancient usage for his service and 

 who can tell by the slot the age of the stag. The prac- 

 tices appear to be precisely similar to those which are 

 described by Edmund of Langley, from whose work I 

 have made some extracts in the early pages of this 



