127 



C U A V T K R X I 



THE COUNTRY. 



■' They lake their courses, 

 I'".ast. \ve>t. north, south ; or, like a school Ijioke up, 

 K.icii hurnts towaids his home and sporiiiis-place. ' 



Ki'i^ lleiny //', r<x>t II, net iv, scene 3. 



The couiUiy liunted by the Royal Ivock Benglcs is very easily defined, 

 beiiii; bounded on the north by the sea, on the east and west by the estuaries 

 ut" the Mersey and the Dee; ilie reniainiiii; south side, marching with the 

 northern boundary of the country hunted by the Cheshire Beagles, may be 

 defined by a nearly straight line drawn from Stoke, near the river Gowy, 

 througli IJackford to Siiotwick, near the Dee. This district practically com- 

 prises nearly the whole of the Hundred of \\'irral, of which a very fuil 

 description was nublishctl in the second season of the R.R.B. This valuable 

 work f .]forti/)ier's History of Wiiral) gives us a very good notion of the 

 condition of the country in the early days of our good little pack, enabling 

 us, by comparing the past with the present, to forecast, to some extent, our 

 prospects of sport in the future. 



Mortimer dedicated his history to Wiliiam Jackson, Ksq., (afterwards 

 Sir \\'iiliani,) of Claughton Manor House, who was prominent among the 

 distinguished band who may be said to be the founders of the important town 

 of Birkenhead. Mr. Jackson was always friendly to the R.R.B., and though 

 ids name does not appear among the list of members, it may be found in the 

 Sport Book, where his hospitality to the Hunt is duly recorded. His sons 

 and grandchildren have always kept up an interest in sport, being at the 

 present day well known with the Cheshire hounds, and always receiving a 

 liearty welcome whenever they turn out with the R.R.U. One of Ids 

 grandsons, Rudolph Jackson, is now a member. 



Although Mortimer in his history makes no mention of either the 

 Hooton Foxhounds or of the Royal ]\ock Beagles (no doubt his book was 

 ready for the press when the club was founded), he does, in treating of 

 ancient 15ritain, give the following ipiotation from the translation of a Roman 



author : — 



There is a kind of dog of mighty fame 



For hunting, worthy of a fairer frame ; 



By painted Britons, brave in war, they're bred, 



Are beagles called, and to the chase arc led. 



