OLD HMIPSHIRE PACKS 193 



House between Basingstoke and Winchester, my kind 

 friend wrote me a long letter which I cannot do better 

 than transcribe. As he is still an enthusiastic admirer 

 of fox-hunting there is little doubt the taste was en- 

 grafted in those ver>^ early days which he alludes to, 

 when, as a schoolboy at Andover, Lord Stawell's hounds 

 attracted his notice; such is the irresistible force of 

 early impressions. My communicative correspondent has 

 not only supplied the names of the respective masters 

 of the hounds in his youthful days, but has given a brief 

 account of their proceedings illustrative of the life and 

 customs of fox-hunters in olden times. 



" Dear Sir, 



" I think in the year 1783, I was at school 

 at Andover, and recollect that, during the two years I 

 was there Lord Stawell brought a clever pack of fox- 

 hounds to the Star Inn, kept by Mercer. During that 

 time I saw them frequently pass the school on their 

 way to Doles Wood and other places. Tom Harrison 

 was the name of the huntsman, who lived afterwards 

 with Mr. Russell at Grey well, near Odiham ; whether 

 George Sharp and John Richmond were at that time 

 his assistants I cannot say. Lord Stawell, I believe, 

 lived at Marsland, near Farnham, and hunted about 

 that country. I presume there were not many foxes at 

 that time ; in consequence his pack was shifted about a 

 good deal. For instance, he had a kennel at the public 

 house a mile out of Basingstoke, on the Preston 

 Candover road ; his own quarters very frequently at 

 Hackwood, in the late Duke of Bolton's time, where I 

 several times met him, the duchess having taken some 

 notice of me as a little boy. On one occasion, early in 

 September, we found a vixen and six cubs in Spring- 

 wood. The vixen got away ; and in about two hours 

 we killed the whole of the litter. About two years 

 after, Mr. Barber, of Fremington near Barnstaple, 

 brought up one of the best packs of the day, and 

 hunted a great part of Mr. Smith's country. The first 

 year he came to the Star Inn — having with him some 

 very choice companions from Devonshire, all of whom 

 were neighbours to my mother's family and other 

 relations ; among them Colonel Bassett, who succeeded 



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