INTRODUCTION xv 



cases attended to.' Bleeding, the stock remedy for so many ills in man 

 and beast, was of course in vogue in the kennel, but Beckford, somewhat 

 in advance of his age, was ' not fond ' of the practice. Colonel Anstruther 

 Thomson says that one day in 1847 he went to the Atherstone kennels 

 and ' found the feeding house about two inches deep in blood and all 

 the dog-hounds covered with gore, old Will Turpin with his sleeves tucked 

 up looking like a butcher.' He explained that he was ' taking a little 

 bind from 'em to keep 'em cool.' Colonel Anstruther Thomson adds 

 significantly, ' They were never bled again ! ' Sir Walter Gilbey x remem- 

 bers that the Essex farmers, till sixty years ago, used to bleed their cattle 

 regularly in the spring. The fleam has long been laid aside for these pur- 

 poses. Branding hounds was evidently not usual ; Beckford thinks 

 it necessary to explain what is meant by the term and the purpose served 

 by the mark ; ' it may prevent their being stolen.' It must be a very 

 long time since Masters of Hounds suffered from the dog-stealer : branding 

 survived and had its use, as the country became more closely hunted, in 

 enabling the finder of a stray hound to identify and return it to the right 

 kennel ; but the system of placing a tattoo mark in the ear, serving as 

 it does the same purpose as branding and other purposes besides, is steadily 

 superseding the old method. Rounding the ears seems to have come 

 into vogue during the earlier decades of the eighteenth century ; we have 

 no written record to guide us on this point, but the hunting scenes of 

 contemporary artists bear witness to the fact that the operation, though 

 commonly performed, was not universal ; Beckford's advice on the subject 

 of rounding shows that it was a part of his regular kennel routine. 



In a footnote to Letter V. we read : ' The tailing of them (the whelps) 

 is usually done before they are put out (to walk) it might be better perhaps 

 to leave it till they are taken in.' This operation, also known as ' tipping ' , 

 is not now universally performed. Some masters approve the practice 

 for hounds which have much covert work and are themselves hard workers, 

 lest they wear naked the end of the stern. 



The advent of change in a minor matter is indicated in the concluding 

 paragraph of Letter VI : 



' If your covers be large you will find the straight horn of use : and 

 I am sorry to hear that you do not approve of it. You ask me why I like 

 it ? Not as a musician I can assure you. It signifies little, in our way, 

 what the noise is so long as it is understood.' 



From this it would appear that the straight horn was then coming 

 into use ; the new shape could not have gained very general acceptance 

 if we may draw inference from pictures. In Reinagle's Fox Breaking 

 Cover, exhibited hi the Royal Academy of 1803, the huntsman is blowing 



1 Farm Stock 100 Years ago. Vinton & Co., Ltd. 



