Pox-hunting Past and Present 



understood that they could beat horses both for 

 speed and stamina. In the general furore con- 

 cerning them came about the matches towards the 

 end of the century, when Mr. Meynell backed 

 some of his hounds to run against those of Mr. 

 Barry, a Cheshire sportsman, over four miles at 

 Newmarket on a drag. Enough was seen to show 

 that hounds are faster than horses, as only three 

 horsemen out of sixty were with them at the finish, 

 but, fortunately for posterity, Mr. Meynell was not 

 satisfied with the way in which his hounds were 

 beaten, and so the matchmaking in which hounds 

 were concerned went very little farther. 



It was fortunate also that a number of enthusi- 

 astic sportsmen went in for hunting and hound- 

 breeding, as if it was one of the first duties of man, 

 and thought of little else. The consequence was 

 a continued improvement in hounds under such 

 disciples of the chase as Lord Darlinton, Lord 

 Vernon, Lord Monson^ Lord Middleton, Colonel 

 Thornton, Mr. John Warde, Mr. John Musters, and 

 Mr. Corbet. It may be regarded as somewhat 

 extraordinary that men of great social position 

 should have almost spent their lives in hunting 

 and the culture of hounds, and that their examples 

 were closely followed by others of a later genera- 

 tion that counted Assheton Smith, Lord Henry 

 Bentinck, Osbaldeston, and Mr. G. S. Foljambe, 

 but it must be said of all that they created the 



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