CHAPTER XI 



HAMPSHIRE 



It is a singular fact that Hampshire although far from 

 being a first-rate country should have so many packs 

 of hounds as there are kept in it ; but it proves the good 

 taste of the inhabitants, and their inherent love of sport. 

 The great celebrity of three masters of hounds, the late 

 Mr. Chute, the late Mr. Villebois, and Mr. Thomas Asshe- 

 ton Smith, has no doubt been to a great degree the cause 

 of the distinction which it has acquired, and serves to 

 show how much may be effected by masters of hounds 

 who possess the talent, the means, and the inclination. 

 A sportsman who is a stranger travelling through 

 this country forms a highly favourable opinion of it as a 

 fox-hunting district. It appears very open, the fields 

 large, many of them upwards of one hundred acres, the 

 coverts do not inculcate the idea of being extensive or 

 over numerous, and therefore he judges that a good 

 wild fox and a superior pack of hounds must insure 

 sport. With that view I took up my abode in the 

 county three seasons, being further induced to do so in 

 consequence of Lord Gifford at that time hunting what 

 is called the H. H. country, previously having had 

 experience of his lordship's talent as a sportsman in the 

 Vale of White Horse. 



I cannot say that my expectations of the country 

 were altogether realised. It certainly is open, but the 

 foxes do not very often face that part of it. The fences 

 many of them are composed of hazel twenty or thirty 

 feet wide, and are cultivated for fuel ; in fact what would 

 in many countries be called belts or plantations. These 

 you caimot in all places penetrate, although there is 



