344 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



ing them draw up to him is one of the most delicious 

 sensations imaginable. They go with their heads 

 up,, sniffing the breeze, and show you that he is there, 

 though they can't speak to him. At length you 

 hear a tongue, then another and another, till " the 

 sweet melody eziraptures the senses, and chases 

 all your cares away." There was no driving 'em 

 over the line, as is now the wont, but the old 

 foresters were all sportsmen, and knew when they 

 were on the scent, and when off it. They had not 

 more than eighteen couple of effective hounds, but 

 they were the cream of the cream. Old Tom knew 

 the Forest well, and showed the hand of a master 

 there. The hounds were mainly descended from a 

 hound bred by Lord Egremont, called Jasper, who 

 was a model of a foxhound both in shape and work. 

 In those days there was a club at the King's house 

 at Lyndhurst, where there was a jovial party, good 

 cheer, and, to a lover of hunting, the month of 

 April was altogether a month of pleasure without 

 alloy. 



There were no hounds more deserving of notice 

 than the Oakley, in days of yore. Some forty-seven 

 or forty-eight years ago, as well as we recollect, the 

 present Duke of Bedford took them under his guid- 

 ance : he was then a young man, and had no know- 

 ledge of hunting. His huntsman, George Wells, 

 had not then had experience to make him sage, and 

 was rather of the wild-boy school. The Duke had 

 no prejudices, went out with other packs, and pro- 

 fited by what he saw. He found he was wrong, both 

 in his theory and practice, and instead of following 

 the wild lifting system, adopted quietness almost to 

 excess, and his pack became in consequence one of 

 the most efficient in the kingdom. George Wells 

 soon discovered that he had been on the wrong tack, 

 that the more he did for them the less they would 

 do for themselves, and from inclination, as well as 



