Zbc Earls of l^arborouob t.-? 



coeval with the confederacy of 171 3, established by 

 the agreement I have quoted. He was noted as the 

 hardest rider in the hunt when he had passed his 

 seventy-second year. To him succeeded his son 

 Thomas, whom the old man entered as whip at the 

 age of fifteen, and who for fifty-nine years carried the 

 horn, to be succeeded in his turn by his son, grandson, 

 and great-grandson, all Williams, who have kept up the 

 succession without a break (if I am not mistaken) till 

 the present day. 



In the year 18 16 the first Lord Yarborough gave up 

 the management of his hounds to his son, the Honourable 

 Charles Anderson Pelham, and he requested William 

 Smith to resign the horn to h's son. The old huntsman 

 complied with the request, and Lord Yarborough not only 

 pensioned off his faithful servant on full pay for life, but 

 presented him with a handsome silver cup bearing this 

 inscription : ' The gift of Lord Yarborough to his hunts- 

 man, Mr Thomas Smith, after having been more than 

 fifty years in his service : made as an acknowledgment 

 of that indefatigable and unremitting attention to the 

 business of his vocation which may be recommended 

 for a pattern to those who succeed him, and can never 

 be surpassed.' 



Between them the first Lord Yarborough and his 

 huntsman had raised the Brocklesby pack to a high 

 state of excellence. The minute attention which they 

 paid to breeding laid the foundation of that reputation 

 which the Brocklesby blood has justly obtained for sym- 

 metry, stoutness, courage, speed, and exquisite scenting 

 powers. ' The nose of Yarborough ' was celebrated before 

 this century had dawned, and the famous Brocklesby 

 ' Ranter ' had such a name for stoutness that the great 



