14 HUNTING 



to find and kill tlie fox with sticks and stones. It is 

 hardly conceivable that a dog-fox could often have 

 fallen a victim to this method of hunting, though 

 probably a vixen with her unborn or new-born litter of 

 cubs was constantly sacrificed. "We must also remember 

 that the practice of late hunting, i.e. of not hunting the 

 fox till he had had time to recover from the fatigue of 

 his nocturnal wanderings and to digest his food, would 

 have been almost impossible with the horses which our 

 forefathers rode. The thoroughbred hunter was un- 

 known, except in the stables of a few of the nobility, 

 and the squire's saddle-horse was a heavy animal, whose 

 pace and galloping powers were limited in the extreme, 

 however great his staying powers may have been. A 

 fresh fox would have raced away from the field in 

 the same way as the modern foxhound would have 

 done. 



Such was the rule as to fox-hunting ; but there were 

 notable exceptions, which ultimately gave birth to the 

 present system. The Berkeley Hounds have the reputa- 

 tion of being the oldest pack in England. They had 

 kennels at Charing Cross when Berkeley Square was a 

 snipe marsh ; but there are hardly any authentic 

 records about them, and we may be sure that they were 

 not entered solely to hunt the fox, but, on the contrary, 

 were more accustomed to hunt hare. According to 

 Sydney, than whom there can be no better authority 

 {vide ' Sydney's Book of the Horse,' 1893), the Brock- 

 lesby Hounds are undoubtedly the oldest pack of fox- 

 hounds in the kingdom. They have been in the 

 Pelham, better known perhaps in hunting circles as the 

 Yarborough, family for over 150 years, and have had a 

 written pedigree for over 120 years. It was from the 

 Brocklesby kennels that Mr Hugo Meynell, commonly 



