228 iktnos of tbe 1bunttno=*f ielD 



shillings a brace. ' I have sent " the Squire," ' 

 says Mr Budd, 'ten or twelve brace at a time, and 

 it really was a pretty sight when the little creatures, 

 about half-grown, were secured in the bed of a 

 tilted cart, which, to ensure safety, was the means of 

 transit' 



But ' the Squire ' was very particular about the breed 

 and quality of his purchased foxes, for I find him writing 

 thus to his friend Budd : ' Let me know directly what 

 Hopkins says about foxes. Recollect they must be old 

 English foxes, no damned French dunghills. About 

 three brace per month will do.' The letter is dated 

 November loth, 1822, and the foxes were evidently 

 wanted for immediate sport — hence the necessity for 

 their being 'old,' but as a rule 'the Squire' preferred 

 the half-grown ones, described by Mr Budd, which were 

 sent down to him a couple of months or more before the 

 season began. In Sussex, I believe, they are not so 

 particular, but have their foxes imported from France, 

 and poor rogues they are. 



I have already alluded to the excellence of ' the 

 Squire's' hounds, descended from the Monson and 

 Yarborough blood, and bred, reared and hunted by 

 himself, and in proof of the estimation in which they 

 were held, I may mention that when Mr Harvey Combe, 

 who purchased them of Mr Osbaldeston, sent them 

 to Tattersall's, five couples fetched thirteen hundred and 

 sixty guineas ! 



In 1840, after thirty-five years' hard hunting, George 

 Osbaldeston laid down the horn and retired from the 

 duties of a M.F.H. The followers of the Pytchley, 

 to show their appreciation of the splendid sport which he 

 had given them for thirteen seasons, presented him with 



