THE IJFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



or ancjther to Iveep foxhounds. All Mr. Corbet's horses, with 

 the exception ol" those he himself brecrls, ai-e purcliased, at 

 weaning time, from his tenants or the neighbouring- farmers. 

 He thus has not onl}^ a great choice, but has the advantage of 

 having all geldings, and no mares, in his stables. I under- 

 stand the price he gives is, generally, about twenty pounds, 

 which, reckoning good keep for the next four years, puts 

 excellent five-year-olds into his stud, at about eighty pounds, 

 which no doubt is cheaper th:in purchasing them — all risks 

 included. 



' Mr. Corbet's hounds are, in ni}^ opinion, very good, but 

 his blood does not, I believe, rank quite so high as that 

 of some other kennels. They say he has done mischief — 

 causing a certain degree of slackness — by breeding too much 

 in-and-in, or from one particular sort. This has given him 

 the somewhat classic title of the Father of the Trojans, and 

 the foundation of it is this. Many j^ears back, when he 

 hunted another country, his hounds came to a check at the 

 wall of a gentleman's park. The scent appeared to be lost, 

 when one hound, called Trojan, was seen carrying it along the 

 top of the wall, on which the fox had run, and thus baffled his 

 pursuers for a time. This was the distinguishing charac- 

 teristic of the hound alluded to; and his after-performances 

 being on a par with it, he became not only the favourite stud- 

 hound in the kennel, but nearly the founder of an entire pack, 

 in which the parent cross was carried too far. As professed 

 judges entertain this opinion of Mr. C.'s hounds, it would ill 

 become me to dispute it ; but this 1 will say, that, as far as I 

 have seen them in the field, I can find very little to condemn. 

 The newly prevailing fashion of dividing the sexes is adopted 

 in the field, and the character of the two packs is that, 

 although under very adverse circumstances the dogs may be 

 the most efficient, the bitches are more brilliant with a 

 straight-running fox and a good scent. Of the country, as I 

 have already said, there is good and indifferent — none ver}^ 

 bad ; but the good greatly prevails ; and by way of giving 

 you an idea of the part esteemed indifferent, I must tell you 

 that I saw a run, last week, from one of the covers in it, 

 called Farnborough, of twelve miles, in which we only crossed 

 one ploughed field ! On the other hand, on the Northampton- 

 shire side of the country, there is as fine a grazing district as 



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