Truman Villebois, Esq., and the H.H. 109 



weight, ' I believe you ; and so do the foxes' But the 

 old H.H. hounds, though going into very good hands, 

 were not equally successful in the Craven country. 

 It can hardly be supposed that this arose from any 

 inferiority in the quality of hounds which had so long 

 maintained a high character. I believe the reason to 

 be, that the Craven changed to a more favourable, 

 and the H.H. to a more difficult country ; and if 

 ever two packs should again exchange places between 

 Hampshire and that part of Berkshire, I should expect 

 similar results. I am not going to call Hampshire a 

 good scenting country : it is inferior to Sussex on one 

 side, and to Dorsetshire on the other ; but my expe- 

 rience would certainly lead me to rank it higher than 

 the southern parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and 

 Buckinghamshire. It is true that the scent dies away 

 soon, so that it is exceedingly difficult to recover a 

 fox who has got far ahead on the Hampshire hills : it 

 is true also that it is a country which dries very 

 quickly, so that little can be done in it after the 

 March winds have set in ; but so long as the ground is 

 sufficiently wet, the scent is often very good while it 

 lasts, and enables hounds, if they have got a good start, 

 to push their fox along at a very distressing pace. 

 In my time, hounds certainly ran hard for an hour 

 together without a serious check, more frequently 

 in the Vine or H.H. than in the Craven country. 

 Another disadvantage of the latter country is, that the 

 scent varies more. The H.H. is almost entirely a hill 

 country ; and though in so large an extent there must 

 be some variations of soil and cultivation affecting 

 the scent, yet this is far more the case in the Craven, 

 where their vale, hill, down, and forest present a 



