192 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



hounds from the late Colonel Cooke to enable him to 

 fulfil his agreement. This talented sportsman of olden 

 days experienced a sad loss and disappointment : mad- 

 ness broke out in his pack, whereby he lost forty couples 

 of hounds, and in 1814 gave up the New Forest to Mr. 

 Nicol, who had the repute of being at that time a very 

 first-rate sportsman and of having had a very superior 

 pack of hounds, consisting of the best blood from the 

 Duke of Beaufort's and hisi predecessor's keimels, which 

 in the year 1828 he sold to Lord Kintore for a thousand 

 guineas. They went into Aberdeenshire, after which 

 Mr. Wyndham took the country vacated by Mr. Nicol, 

 and hunted it till 1838. Mr. Codrington then had it 

 four years, when Captain Sheddon relieved him from the 

 duties and continued till the spring of the present year, 

 although he sold most of his hounds in 1851 to Mr. 

 Thomas Drake ; subsequently to which it has, I believe, 

 been hunted only two days in the week. Mr. Theobald, 

 who had been hunting a country in the neighbourhood 

 of Bath two seasons, has now engaged to hunt this. 



Kennel lameness is a malady said to afflict hounds in 

 the New Forest most extensively ; and such, I am in- 

 formed, isi the nature of the soil that, build kennels 

 where you may, the disorder makes its appearance. 

 There are, however, other parts of Hampshire where 

 much difficulty exists in keeping hounds free from this 

 painful disorder. 



As a master of hounds, an amateur huntsman, and a 

 horseman, Mr. Thomas Assheton Smith's name ranks 

 so high that it would be superfluous in me to attempt 

 to raise his fame. I have no data by which I can state 

 the exact period when Mr. Smith first commenced 

 hunting in the neighbourhood of his seat, Tidworth 

 House ; but I apprehend it must be about thirty years 

 since, prior to which the country had been irregularly 

 hunted ; in fact Mr. Smith formed it. On making 

 inquiry from the oldest sportsman in the country, a 

 gentleman who was a frequent guest of George the 

 Fourth when Prince of Wales, then residing at Kempshot 



