130 England's oldest hunt. 



shows it had either been a two-legged fox or some other ver- 

 min which had run off with the poultry, as is so often the case. 

 Mr. Lowndes had his pack under wonderful control. They 

 were almost at a word, and dare not run riot. I was interested 

 the other day to find that the famous Mr. Meynell, who 

 perhaps did more than any other man to make hunting the 

 sport it is, entered all his young hounds to hare. Cecil, 

 in his " Records of the Chase " says : — 



" One of the peculiarities of Mr. Meynell's system was that of 

 entering young hounds to hare, a custom exploded in all kennels of 

 to-day. I have reason to believe his motive for doing so was because 

 many contemporary packs hunted both hare and fox, a custom which 

 experience proves to be incompatible with the perfection of steadiness. 

 Another motive was that of teaching hounds to hunt. Although in- 

 convenient, it was, perhaps, less objectionable at that time than it 

 would be now, because hares were by no means so numerous ; but 

 under any circumstances, it cannot be surprising that hounds should 

 have a predilection for the pursuit of an animal they had been first 

 encouraged to hunt, and that great severity must be exercised before 

 the poor hounds could be made steady to the proper scent." 



It is said that a hound which will not look at a hare is 

 no good, or rather a puppy which takes no notice of this 

 illegitimate quarry does not augur well. Possibly this is 

 the case, but if he is corrected when he does " look " at a 

 hare, it is possible he will be saved the " Ware hare ! " 

 rating with an accompanying slash of the whip, whilst 

 the hunt officials will be saved much trouble. Yet I 

 have read that Mr. Meynell's hounds were under wonderful 

 control, and could all be stopped in the same field if a fox 

 were running, until the word was given for them to proceed. 

 The ex-Master of the Bilsdale, and one of the coming (if 

 he has not already come) gentlemen huntsmen of the day, 

 was also remarkable in that he had his hounds in what 

 we call in Yorkshire " good awe." Even when a bagged 

 fox was to be turned off not a hound dared move till he gave 

 the word, not even those which had previously been trencher- 

 fed in Bilsdale, and were not then under such discipline. 

 Indeed, he used to say they dare not move their sterns on 

 such occasions without permission. They occasionally ran 



