IXTRODLTTIOX. ix 



R.R.lx, ;uui he hero desires to acknowledge his indebtedness 

 especially to I\Ir. C. Rawson, who still retains a deej) interest 

 in the pack, and who, although it is now more than forty 

 years since he left the neighbourhood, has preserved interesting 

 letters, newspaper cuttings, songs, photographs, and various 

 memoranda relating to the Ro}-al Rock Beagles, all of which 

 he freely placed at the disposal of the compiler of this 

 volume. 



Christopher Rawson stands alone, so far as the writer 

 has been able to disco\'er, in having kept an}' written or 

 printed memoranda of the early da\\s of tlie R.R.B. ; and 

 although Tinley Barton and \). O. Ikiteson have reminiscences, 

 which they are willing to im])art to the ready listener, yet the 

 great lapse of time has caused the exact details to fade 

 from their memories, and they are unable to furnish much 

 information about the hounds and the sport of their epoch, 

 suitable for the purposes of this record. 



The author joined the Royal Rock Beagles in 1876, and 

 thus has had the experience of nearly twenty seasons. He 

 yields to none in his affection for the members of the Hunt. 

 and in his intense enjoyment of the sport and the exercise 

 to be obtained therefrom. 



Tlie remarks on hare-hunting and on hounds in the 

 following pages, are culled from the best available authorities ; 

 and if there is nothing new in them, it is because there is 

 nothing new to be said. Somcrvile and Beckford were such 

 thorough masters of the science of hare-hunting, that all 

 subsequent writers have freely availed themselves of their 

 works ; and it is only because there are many beaglers of 

 the present day who have not read, and evidently do not 



