MB. PENN C. SHERBROOKE. 267 



of 85, and almost to the end maintained a lively interest 

 in Mr. Sherbrooke's hounds with which his family have been 

 so intimately associated. These hounds have always born 

 the name of the reigning master, and for about half-a-century 

 were known as " Squire Hill's hounds," being, as already 

 shown, formed by Richard Hill in 1808, and hunted by him 

 till his death in 1855, and next under the mastership of his 

 son (the late John Hill) for another seven seasons. Then in 

 1862, Mr. Hill sold his hounds to the Duke of Grafton, but he 

 then helped Lord Derwent (at that time Mr. Harcourt 

 Johnstone) to form another pack, and carried the horn 

 for him for many more years. In 1881, Captain Johnstone 

 (said the biographer in the " Malton Messenger ") took over 

 the command, and further improved the pack his father 

 and the late Mr. Hill had bred. Many of those who hunt 

 with the Grafton to-day may not be aware that much of the 

 excellence of the pack is traceable to the hounds bred by 

 Squire Hill in Yorkshire 50 years ago. Frank Beers, the 

 famous huntsman, who made a very close and successful 

 study of hound-breeding, once expressed the opinion that 

 Mr. Hill's pack proved the making of the Grafton. When 

 the late Lord Southampton (the father of the present Master) 

 gave up the Grafton mastership in 1862, and sold the pack 

 in its entirety to Mr. Selby Lowndes, the country was 

 without hounds until the first Lord Penrhyn came to the 

 rescue, and telegraphed to his friend, Sir John Johnstone, 

 " Buy Hill's Hounds." Sir John acted accordingly, and Lord 

 Penrhyn wrote to the Duke begging his Grace's acceptance 

 of the pack. The Duke readily accepted this handsome offer 

 on behalf of the country, and one of Frank Beers' first duties 

 as huntsman of the Grafton was to fetch Mr. Hill's hounds 

 from their kennels at Thornton. The experiment was not 

 popular with those who knew nothing of the sterling hunting 

 qualities possessed by a pack regarded as obscure by the 

 Midlanders. Sir John Johnstone said to a friend, the late 

 Mr. J. M. K. Elliott, " I'm afraid I shall do no good in buying 

 Hill's hounds, but could not help it. Lord Penrhyn having 

 wired to me to buy them. You have no idea how I am 



