48 ROYAL ROCK BEAGLE HUNT. 



October 201I1, 1849, King writes : — 



As this is the first time I have been out after an absence of two seasons, 

 I may be permitted to bear testimony to the great improvement in the paclc. 

 The quick and sporting manner in which the liounds now do tlieir work, in fact 

 without need of the huntsman, is very striking. 



And March 30th, 1850: — 



Thus ended the season of 1849/1850, in wliich we liave enjoyed most 

 excellent sport, and, to add to this enjo^-ment, tliere has not been the slightest 

 unpleasantness or ill-feeling among any of the members, for on the contrary 

 there has been the best and kindest feeling among all of us. 



The merciful feeling which King entertained for hares, and indeed for 

 all animals, and which was so strongly marked in the later years of his 

 niastersliip, can be traced in his records, as the following examples will 

 show : — 



And then, I almost regret to say, this sporting hare met her death from 

 the hounds. 



Found again, and had a beautiful run of an hour. Whipped off to save 

 her life. This was one of the best runs of the season ; scent good and steady, 

 and the pack never off it. 



On tliis occasion two members only were out. whicli probably accounts 



for mercy prevailing over sport. 



" During the run old Merryman broke his leg, and the poor old hound had 

 to be destroyed. He met an honourable death where he should do, on the 

 field." 



As ]\I:ister, King has been known to take llie hounds away from a spot 

 where he alone has seen a beaten liare go to ground, without saying anything 

 about it to the more blood-tlnisty sportsmen. 



"A proper man. 

 Iiuieed. he is so : I repent me much 

 That so I hanied him." 



Antony and Cico/iatra, net Hi, scene 3. 



When the Wirral Harriers started in iS68, a somewhat acrimonious 

 correspondence (reference to which will be found on a previous page) passed 

 between \ . A. King, as Master of ilie Beagles, and J. R, Court, as INIaster 

 of the Harriers. The tone of this correspondence on the part of tlie har- 

 riers was little calculated to conciliate a man of our INIaster's autocratic 

 temperament. The idea of considering his beagles inferior to harriers 

 would rouse all the combative spirit in his composition ; and we cannot be 

 surprised that, for all the remainder of his life, he had a bitter fcelmg towards 

 the harriers, although he had many warm and personal friends among 

 their members. 



A young woman, who lived at a farmhouse near Raby, relates that, 

 when she was a child playing about the roads, Colonel King several times 



