174 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



able weight over any country for a more perfect 

 specimen of a weight-carrier I have'never seen. To 

 stay at Bath, and hunt with the Badminton Hounds, I 

 consider to be as near perfect happiness as is per- 

 mitted to mortals those of sporting tendencies be it 

 understood. 



Great excitement has been created amongst resi- 

 dents in the vicinity of High Wycombe by the fact of 

 Lord Carington having taken over for a time the 

 superb pack of bloodhounds the property of Lord 

 Wolverton. Truly grand are the performances of this, 

 the only pack of the breed in the country, and who- 

 ever sees them going in pursuit of a sturdy stag over 

 that light-riding country will have a rare treat. Then 

 he will hear the deep tones of these most musical 

 hounds, as he watches them carefully hunting the 

 deer, not hastily, but steadily pursuing their object 

 with a diligent persistence for probably two hours or 

 even more, and surely running into their quarry at last. 

 In the hands of such a sportsman as the present 

 master, marvellous days may safely be predicted. 



The South Oxfordshire Hounds, of which the 

 veteran sportsman and greatly and deservedly re- 

 spected master is the Earl of Macclesfield, meet at 

 Shirburn Castle this day. Though ' ' the inaudible and 

 noiseless foot of time " has set its imprint somewhat 

 deeply upon him, yet the noble master of this cele- 

 brated pack will carry the horn with his accustomed 

 skill, and show the usual good results of long practical 

 experience in hunting the fox. The Duke of Grafton's 

 hounds, which number fifty couples, of what I believe 

 to be the fastest hounds in England, are kennelled at 

 WakefieldLawn, Stony Stratford, and are under the care 



