THE CHACE. 
subject is incontrovertible. " You may at pleasure," 
says this distinguished sportsman, " diminish the size 
and power of the animal you wish to breed ; but it is 
difficult to increase, or even preserve them, adhering to 
the same breed." Many thought that Mr. Warde's 
hounds looked to some disadvantage, owing to their 
generally carrying a good deal of flesh, which, however, 
he considered as did also the celebrated Tom Rose*, 
* The following sketch of honest Old Tom is copied from a late 
number of the Northampton Herald, with a few additional particulars by 
the friend who has kindly forwarded it to us, and who had long known 
him, and was able to appreciate his character. It is but an imperfect 
sketch, he observes, and hardly does Old Tom justice. 
" Poor Tom has at length gone to the place where all things are 
forgotten. For many years have I known him well, and safely can I 
aver that a more honest and worthy man never sat on a saddle, or ever 
cheered a hound. He had been from his infancy in the family of the 
Duke of Grafton. It is related of him, that Joe Smith, who had the care 
of the old Duke's hounds, whilst hunting one day at Staen, near Brackley, 
heard a boy hallooing crows, and was so pleased with his voice, that he 
took him into the stable. Be that as it may, he hunted the Grafton pack 
for nearly half a century. As it is much easier to pick a hole than mend 
one, so many, who were unacquainted with the nature of the country, 
used ofttimes to be not very scrupulous in their remarks as to his manage- 
ment No one knew what hounds ought to be, better than Tom ; but, as 
he frequently used to say, ' a man must breed his pack to suit his country.' 
His hounds were supposed to be wild, and to have too much fly in them ; 
or, according to his phrase, ' a leetle in a hurry.' They certainly were so 
in a degree ; but, in the ungovernable woodlands he had to hunt, how 
many foxes would he have caught had he not lifted them and thrown 
them in at head, with a bad fox? One fox would have lasted him a 
season. This system, doubtless, would make them wild in the open, but 
in a woodland country what other system is to be pursued ? Knowing 
that they had a good deal of fling in them, Tom could not bear the sight 
of a red coat. The Pytchley wild-boys, who were ever for a scurry in the 
morning, used to indulge Tom with their company whenever they met in 
the open, and not being accustomed (when at home) to give them ' much 
