34 Recollections of the Vine Hunt. 



cording to the evidence of Will. Biggs, Mr. Chute had 

 resumed hunting foxes, while the Prince was still at 

 Kempshot, and it is known that the Prince ceased 

 to reside there in 1795. Now the interval between 

 1 79 1 -2 and 1795 is not more than sufficient for all the 

 changes that I have mentioned, viz. the first change 

 from harriers to foxhounds ; the brief return to hare- 

 hunting ; and the final resumption of foxhunting. I 

 think, therefore, that we may fix on the season of 

 1 79 1 -2 as the date when they first became foxhounds, 

 and the season of 1794-5 as the time when they finally 

 ceased to hunt hare; so that, at any rate, the Vine 

 Hunt may now claim an uninterrupted existence of 

 seventy years. 



Next to showing the origin of the pack, I have to 

 trace out the countries which Mr. Chute occupied at 

 different times ; fix the dates of his occupation, and 

 show who was his immediate predecessor in each ; and 

 for this task I happen to possess a peculiar advantage. 

 Circumstances put me in possession of Mr. Chute's 

 diary for the year 1798, in which are entered his places 

 of meeting for the latter half of one season, and the 

 first half of another. The authentic information 

 supplied to me by the accidental preservation of this 

 little pocket-book for nearly seventy years, seems to 

 exemplify the truth of an old proverb, and to multiply 

 it by ten, * Keep a thing seven years, and you will be 

 sure to find a use for it' 



From this document, confirmed as it is in parts by 

 living testimony, it appears that Mr. Chute then drew 

 all the covers north of the Great Western Turnpike 

 Road, from Basingstoke to Nutley. His western and 

 northern boundary included North Oakley and Han- 



