Hunting in the last Century. 5 



But besides these irregular and desultory modes of 

 foxhunting, of which I have given so many instances, 

 I believe that even regular packs of foxhounds were 

 more frequently kept on a small scale, and differed 

 more from each other, according to the means and 

 sportsmanship of the owner, than is usual in these 

 days, when everybody has the advantage of knowing 

 how other hunts are conducted, and everyone at least 

 aims at one common standard of perfection. In those 

 days a pack of foxhounds was considered to be private 

 property, which the owner was as free to manage ac- 

 cording to his own will and pleasure as he was to 

 settle the arrangements of his own shooting or fishing. 

 Hounds were not then advertised in the newspapers. 

 Railroads did not bring men and horses from places 

 twenty or thirty miles distant to the meet. Bad roads 

 and imperfect means of communication confined each 

 hunt within narrow limits. The field usually consisted 

 of a few near neighbours of different ranks, to whom 

 the master might, or might not, send notice, accord- 

 ing to his convenience. Mr. Chute, in his earlier 

 days, seems to have had no scruple in taking out his 

 hounds without notice to anyone. A gentleman now 

 living informs me that, when he was a young lad, 

 he had gone to the Vine, believing that the hounds 

 were to hunt that day ; but either he had mistaken, 

 or Mr. Chute had changed the day — the one was as 

 likely as the other. At any rate, the hounds were 

 not to go out. On his appearance, however, Mr. 

 Chute, finding that they had not been fed, good- 

 naturedly took them out and found a fox for him. 

 There are also letters from Mr. Chute, written about 

 1795 from the House of Commons, when he found 



