260 Mms of tbe 1buntina*3ftel& 



has studied the annals of sport can place much faith in 

 old-time 'clocking.' Whether the fault were in the 

 watches or in those who held them I am not prepared 

 to say, but it is a recognised fact now that the marvellous 

 ' times ' of yore will not bear the test of investigation. 

 And, no doubt, Mr Blew is correct in his surmise that Mr 

 Delme-Radcliffe was mistaken either in the distance or 

 the time. Still, make what deductions we will, it was an 

 extraordinary run, and the author of ' The Noble Science' 

 triumphantly adduces it as a proof, not only of the 

 excellence of his favourite Segrave strain in hounds, but 

 also of his pet theory that the thoroughbred makes the 

 best hunter. ' My first whipper-in,' he says, ' was carried 

 well to the finish and in a good place by a little entire 

 thoroughbred chestnut horse of extraordinary power, 

 measuring hardly 1 5 hands. This little horse had gone 

 through a morning's work before the finding of an after- 

 noon fox, and I will venture to say that nothing but 

 d/ood could have gone through the wliole of such a day.' 



I may add that this run remained without a parallel in 

 the history of the Hertfordshire Hunt until it was 

 eclipsed in 1853, when they met at Broadwater, found at 

 Whormalby Wood, and ran their fox for four-and-a-half 

 hours, by which time every horse in the field was 

 knocked up, and the hounds enjoyed their kill to them- 

 selves. 



Mr Delme-Radcliffe's ideas as to the pace of hounds 

 sound somewhat exaggerated to modern ears. He 

 mentions an instance in which hounds of his favourite 

 ' Segrave blood ' covered six miles in eighteen minutes, 

 and asserts that foxhounds have beaten trained race- 

 horses when the two have been matched. Probabl}- the 

 trial Mr Delme-Radcliffe had in his mind when he 



