THE CHACE. 
f 
Mr. Osbaldeston sold ten couples of hounds for the first- 
named sum to the late Lord Middleton ; and we have 
reason to believe he had hounds in his kennel for which 
he would not have taken two hundred guineas a-piece. 
Knowing all this, one can make every allowance for the 
angry feeling and fears of their owners when they see 
the chance of their being ridden over and destroyed in 
chace. Good hounds are not easily replaced ; and it is 
on this account, that in the hard-riding countries, and 
where the covers are small, seldom more than sixteen or 
seventeen couples form a pack. 
The recent retirement of the Duke of Rutland from 
the field has been felt to leave a vacuum in the hunting 
world. Those hounds are now in the possession of a 
very popular young nobleman, Lord Forester, and his 
Grace subscribes one thousand two hundred pounds 
per annum towards their support ; but the Duke himself 
no longer hunts, neither is there the annual assemblage 
of sportsmen that was wont to be within the walls of 
Belvoir Castle. These are circumstances which have 
caused much regret; for his Grace retires with the 
good name of all the fox-hunting population. He " did 
the thing" with princely magnificence, both in-doors 
and out ; and if materials had been sought for to furnish 
a faithful representation of the style and grandeur of 
the genuine English nobleman, giving a fair part of his 
attention to the arrangements of the chace, we have 
reason to believe they would have all been met with at 
Belvoir. 
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