36 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



it up. This country was hunted by the respective 

 Dukes of Beaufort upwards of eighty years ; but lying 

 wide from Badminton, and foxes in that neighbourhood 

 becoming more plentiful, it was an alteration conducive 

 to the convenience of all parties. The H.H., hunted 

 with remarkable success by the late Mr. Villebois, 

 included the Hursley, until the period when Captain 

 Haworth had the management. The division of the 

 Bramshill Hunt, formerly the late Sir John Cope's, is 

 of more recent date. During the lifetime of the worthy 

 baronet a portion of the country was lent to Mr. Thoyts, 

 and subsequently to Mr. Montagu ; but when Sir John, 

 in consequence of increasing age and infirmities, gave 

 up his hounds and country to Mr. Wheble in the year 

 1850, the whole was again formed into one ; and so 

 matters continued till 1852, when a division, which is 

 understood as a permanent arrangement, was made : — 

 Mr. Wheble continuing to hunt the western portion, 

 and Mr. Garth the eastern, having the River Loddon as 

 a boundary. 



It is much to be regretted that misunderstandings 

 should ever arise between two masters of hounds 

 hunting adjacent countries ; and whenever such dis- 

 putes occur, reference to some disinterested parties is 

 by far the most satisfactory means of adjustment. 

 Unfortunately it sometimes happens that the privileges 

 which the law affords are brought into effect in oppos- 

 ition to the conventional usages recognised by sports- 

 men. The question turns upon this point : Will a 

 gentleman avail himself of that power which the law 

 affords him, or will he be guided by those rules which 

 the class and society in which he moves have adopted 

 for their mutual convenience, harmony, and welfare ? 

 Supposing a gentleman who is possessed of an extensive 

 estate, on which there are fox-coverts within the 

 precincts of an established hunt, thinks proper to keep 

 a pack of hounds to hunt an adjoining country that is 

 vacant ; resorting to his legal power, he might un- 

 doubtedly draw the coverts on his own property, and 



