330 The Post and the Paddock. 



rock as Sir Thomas, namely, his dread of tongue. 

 They were a fine powerful pack, though inclined to be 

 rather upright in the shoulders. With a good scent 

 they could split him up in the best form, but when 

 they got into difficulties the weak points came out. 

 When they were stopped by sheep, or from any other 

 cause, and the chase hounds held themselves on and 

 got on the line, they would not cry the scent, but 

 whimpered like hedge-sparrows, so that the line 

 hunters could not hear them, and they were always 

 slipping one another. 



The Grafton hounds in olden times, early in the 

 present century, were managed by old Joe Smith, and 

 were different from any hounds of the present day. 

 They were rather round than deep in their bodies, 

 had good legs and feet, were very stout, but wild as 

 hawks. No fox could live before them if he hung, 

 and they did not change ; but over the open, when 

 the morning flash was on them, they could not hold 

 it, and could never pinch him. They ran by ear more 

 than by nose ; and when they got to a ride half the 

 pack would leave the cry, hop round to the next ride, 

 cock up their ears till they heard the others bringing 

 it on, and then throw themselves in at his brush. In the 

 latter days of Joe Smith, Tom Rose hunted them, 

 and for many years afterwards had the whole control 

 over them. He bred them much larger, but never 

 altered their character. He was a fine joyous old 

 fellow as ever cheered a hound, and no one knew 

 better what he was about. Being once asked why he 

 bred his hounds so wild " Why ?" says he ; " I'll tell 

 you why. Nine days out of ten I am in a wood. 

 Every fox I find I mean to kill, and these hounds are 

 the sort that will have him. An open country and a 

 woodland pack are different things. What you call 

 a good pack will never catch a bad fox, and as I want 

 to hunt him instead of his hunting me, I think my 

 hounds best calculated for my country." In the after- 



