THE CHACE. 
Hay and oats, and, consequently, oatmeal, being very 
much cheaper now than they were during the war- 
prices, of course these expenses are diminished : but, 
even at present, we understand that, in the best 
establishments, very little is left out of four thousand 
pounds at the end of the year, when all contingent 
charges are liquidated ; and we have reason to know 
that several greatly outstrip even this sum, perhaps to 
the extent of one-half in addition. The late Sir Harry 
Goodricke had eighty couples of hounds in his kennel, 
and forty-four hunters in his stables ; and we believe that 
his predecessors, Lord Southampton, Mr. Osbaldeston, 
and Sir Bellingham Graham, even exceeded this measure 
of establishment. 
The price of hounds is, perhaps, not generally 
known. Thirty years ago, Sir Richard Puleston sold 
his to the Duke of Bedford for seven hundred, and, 
fifteen years since, Mr. Corbet's were sold to Lord Mid- 
dleton for twelve hundred guineas. A well-known good 
pack will, in these times, command a thousand guineas ; 
those of Lord Tavistock (the Oakley), to Sir Harry 
Goodricke ; Mr. Nicholl's, to the Earl of Kintore ; and 
Sir Richard Sutton's to Mr. Thomas Aysheton Smith, 
have been sold for that sum within the last few years ; 
and those of Mr. Warde, as we have already said, for 
double that sum. But a very few years back, indeed, 
earths, the expense of earlh-stopping is heavy ; and Northamptonshire is 
of this class. In others, a great part of the foxes are what is termed 
stub-bred (bred above ground), which circumstance reduces the amount 
o this item. 
