CHAPTER VIII 



BEAUFORT AND BADMINTON 



The Duke of Beaufort's hounds claim distinction for 

 having been in the uninterrupted possession of the 

 family, descending from father to son, during a long 

 series of years. 



When hounds were first established at Badminton, 

 they were devoted to the pursuit of the stag. Fox- 

 hunting was introduced by Henry, the fifth Duke of 

 Beaufort, as nearly as can be ascertained, about the 

 year 1780. A circumstance is related which affords 

 authority for this. At the period named, there was a 

 very celebrated divine, a most worthy gentleman and 

 highly respected by his Grace's family, named Doctor 

 Penny, who resided at Badminton in the capacity of 

 chaplain, and his bell-rope was ornamented with a pad 

 of a fox set in metal, upon which there was an inscrip- 

 tion, and this is said to have been a pad taken from the 

 first fox killed by the Duke of Beaufort's fox-hounds. 



In addition to the country around Badminton was 

 another in Oxfordshire which had previously been 

 hunted by the Lord Foley of that day, who disposed of 

 his hounds to Earl Fitzwilliam. The Duke of Beaufort 

 rented Heythrop House from Earl Shrewsbury for the 

 convenience of hunting that country alternately with 

 the Badminton, as in those times foxes were not suffic- 

 iently numerous to afford a season's sport without 

 such an arrangement. This duke died in 1803, and was 

 succeeded by Henry Charles, the sixth duke, in whose 

 possession the hounds gained the great celebrity which 

 they have ever since maintained. Philip Payne, the 

 huntsman, was first entered as whipper-in to the Earl 



