308 tkings of tbe 1buntttig*3fielb 



recovery and expressing their indignation at the gross 

 insult put upon him by an infuriated vulpicide, who had 

 shot a stout fox before his eyes whilst hounds were in 

 full cry. 



The late Duke was a sportsman to the backbone, and 

 nothing made him so angry as to see a fox killed 

 unfairly. Frank Gillard used to tell how one day, 

 before he was huntsman, when he was first whip under 

 James Cooper, the most desperate horseman that ever 

 carried the horn, they ran a fox into a drain. Gillard 

 thrust in his arm, pulled out the fox, and finding he was 

 dead, threw him to the hounds. The Duke rode up 

 white with rage. ' I thought,' said Frank, ' that he would 

 have horsewhipped me, he was so angry, until I explained 

 that the fox was dead. He thought I wanted to kill him 

 unfairly.' 



The Duke was immensely proud of his hounds, and 

 well he might be, for they were then, and are now, 

 unrivalled for beauty in the three kingdoms. The rich 

 black, white and tan — the latter colour predominating, 

 whence the famous ' Belvoir tan ' — make the hounds 

 wonderfully handsome to look at, and that their looks do 

 not belie their quality is proved by the eagerness with 

 which Masters far and wide try for a ' bit of Belvoir 

 blood.' Thrice, and thrice only, in the long history of 

 the Hunt have drafts been sought from other packs, 

 viz., in 1798, when fifteen couples came from Lord 

 Carlisle; in 18 10, when ten couples were procured from 

 Mr George Templer of Stover, Devon; and in 1817, 

 when seven couples were purchased from Mr Pelham. 

 ' I think,' says Mr Nevill Fitt, ' that this is what can be 

 said of scarcely any other pack that ever existed. 

 Herein lay the immense superiority to which they 



