" I think this lady to be my child Cordelia." 



A'l'nx' Lear, act h', scent 7. 

 " Vour old kind father, whose frank heart jave you all," 



Ktii^ Leti'\ lie I Hi, scene 4. 



Ili:trtrati0xt 



TO 



MISS CATHERINE E. KING, 



ONLY DAUGHTER OF THE LATE COLONEL KING, 

 POINT OF AYR, OXTON. 



To whom can any treatise on the Royal Rock Beagles 

 be more appropriately dedicated than to her, who, during 

 tlie later years of the Mastership of Vincent Ashfield King 

 (who was not only her father, but also the " father of the 

 Hunt "), was his constant companion in the field, and in 

 his summer tramps among the Swiss mountains ? 



By her kind permission, this volume is respectfully 

 dedicated to Miss King, as an acknowledgment of the 

 indebtedness of the Ro\'al Rock Beagle Hunt to her family 

 in the past, and to herself in the present for her unflagging 

 interest in all that concerns the prosperity of the Hunt. 



May she long remain the kind friend and indulgent 

 " landlord " of the Royal Rock Beagles ! 



Nathaniel Caine. 



