22 ROYAL ROCK BEAGLE HUNT. 



CHAPTER V. 



CRISES IN THE HISTORY OF THE HUNT. 



'■ In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest 

 To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast." 



Cotnedy of Errors, act v, scene i. 



The Royal Rock Beagle Hunt having fairly started, in favour with both 

 landlords and farmers, and having a good hunting country, went smoothly 

 on for some years, enjoying the sport, and well satisfied with each other 

 and with their surroundings. The even tenor of their way was only 

 chequered by the inevitable variations in the list of members, changes in 

 the executive, and the loss of their valued master, C. Rawson, who left 

 Liverpool to reside in the south of England in the year 1852. The Hunt 

 was carried on in perfect accord with the Master of the Hooton Foxhounds, 

 Sir William M. Stanle}', who never gave the Committee of the R.R.B. the 

 slightest trouble on any count ; and they, on the other hand, did their 

 utmost to keep in his good graces, by fixing their meets so as not to clash 

 with those of the foxhounds, by taking special care not to disturb fox covers, 

 and by general attention to the rules of sport. 



The first event from outside, which had any bearing on the interests of 

 the Hunt, was the inauguration of the Chester Beagles in 1S54. There is 

 no record in the annals of either pack of any arrangement having been 

 settled as to the limitation of the country. Up to that time the R.R.B. had 

 found amply sufficient hunting ground at the northern end of the Wirral 

 peninsula, and it was probably a matter of little moment, at the time, that 

 another pack was being formed at the southern extremity of their country. 

 In the light of later events, and of the changes which have taken place in 

 Wirral, we can now clearly see that the Committee of the R.R.B. ought to 

 liave anticipated our future needs, and secured to their successors a country 

 only limited on the south by the canal between Chester and Ellesmere Port. 

 At this period the only effect of the formation of the Chester Beagle Hunt 

 upon the fortunes of the Royal Rock Beagles, was the cessation of the 

 annual visits to Beeston for two or three days' hunting. On December 3rd, 

 1S46, the R.R.B. for the first time went to Beeston, at the invitation of 

 Mr. Bird. The record of the run they enjoyed thus winds up in the 

 Sport Book : — 



