Sir John Copes Hotmds. 1 1 5 



getting rid of the faults, he did not also lose some of 

 the peculiar merits of the original breed, which had 

 been bequeathed to the country from Mr. St. John, 

 the original founder of the pack. 



And now I must give an account of Sampson's 

 performance, which might be suspected of exagger- 

 ation if it did not come from a disinterested, or, I 

 might almost say, a reluctant witness. 



The H.H. and Sir John Cope had met one day at 

 the extremities of their respective countries, and each 

 chanced to run, at the same time, into the opposite 

 end of a large cover near Sutton Common, called 

 Sheephouse; but they did not join. Probably each 

 fox was headed by the cry of the other pack : at any 

 rate, each party went back to their own country. The 

 H.H. chanced to have a very long and hard day. 

 Soon after leaving Sheephouse, a strange hound was 

 observed with them. This hound did a great deal of 

 work, and showed remarkable powers of speed and 

 nose ; and, as he was wider in his work than the pack, 

 and frequently hit off the scent, he was continually 

 getting ahead of them, till at last he ran completely 

 away from them, and both the fox and the mysterious 

 stranger were lost, near Bentworth, many miles 

 distant from Sheephouse. As Forster was making a 

 last despairing cast, a labourer told him that he had 

 just seen the fox, followed by a single hound ; and, 

 by following the man's directions, the fox was found 

 lying dead in a lane, and the hound, very much bitten 

 about the head, standing over him. After being 

 hospitably received, and his wounds dressed at 

 Harmsworth, he was sent to Bramshill, and there 

 owned as their dog Sampson. I was told this, very 



