98 Recollections of the Vine Hunt. 



As I hunted for several seasons, both with Mr. 

 Warde and Mr. Chute, whose respective packs may 

 be considered as representing the largest and the 

 smallest kinds of foxhounds, I had ample oppor- 

 tunities of comparing the work of the two sorts, and 

 of forming some opinion as to which was preferable. 

 Now, supposing each to be equally well handled, I 

 feel no doubt that the smaller sort, with its quicker 

 style of work, though not without its peculiar faults, 

 is yet the best adapted for such countries as the 

 Craven or the Vine, consisting, as they chiefly do, of 

 large woods, flinty hills, and arable fields with small 

 fences. I admit that, on the rare occasions when 

 Warde's hounds were close to their fox, they could go 

 rather faster than the smaller sort, either amongst 

 fences, or over an open down, especially in the after- 

 noon, for they were usually brought out too full to go 

 their fastest in the morning; but those are just the 

 times when all foxhounds can go fast enough ; and 

 Warde's hounds were less frequently near their fox 

 than Mr. Chute's were. Their slowness in cover, and 

 their reluctance to play forward with a catching scent 

 in the open, frequently threw them behind their game. 

 They aflbrded admirable specimens of cold hunting ; 

 not a fault was committed ; not a hound out of place : 

 you had the satisfaction of knowing exactly where 

 they had lost the fox : but he was too often lost, or, if 

 killed, too frequently slowly and scientifically walked 

 to death. Mr. Warde's hounds would, undoubtedly, 

 work through difficulties, especially amongst riot, in 

 which Mr. Chute's hounds would have been foiled ; 

 but they more often got into difiiculties, whereas the 

 smaller hounds usually kept much nearer to their fox, 



