84 Recollections of the Vine Hunt, 



never likely to see his hounds, I always hear with 

 satisfaction of the sport which he has shown, and the 

 popularity which he enjoys. 



I knew pretty well all that the Vine hounds did 

 during the first six or seven years of Mr. Fellowes's 

 administration, for I hunted with him during some 

 part of all those seasons, and corresponded with him 

 when absent. I will try to record some particulars of 

 that period. 



Mr. Apperly, writing for the ' Sporting Magazine ' in 

 Nov. 1827, nearly three years after Mr. Chute's death, 

 observes the great improvement in size and power 

 which had taken place in the pack during that interval, 

 and seems to attribute the change to the huntsman 

 Adamson. The improvement is true, but it was a mis- 

 take to suppose that it was due to Adamson. As the 

 opinion which Mr. Apperly there expresses about the 

 appearance of Mr. Chute's hounds, as he had known 

 them in 1822-23, is far less favourable than that which 

 I have given of them a few years earlier, I must offer 

 some explanation of the difference. In that interval the 

 pack had deteriorated. A terrible malady had broken 

 out in the kennel, which, though pronounced on medi- 

 cal authority not to be hydrophobia, yet bore a fearful 

 resemblance to that disease. A great many hounds 

 died of it ; and much anxiety was felt for the hunts- 

 man, who was supposed to have been bitten by one 

 of them. It became necessary for Mr. Chute to recruit 

 his numbers, which he did, partly by drafts from Mr. 

 Lumley Saville, of which, however, only two hounds 

 proved to be of much value ; and partly by retain- 

 ing in his own entries for two or three years hounds 

 which, under other circumstances, would have been 



