THE CRAVEN 203 



road, in thirty-two minutes. The reason the Craven 

 hounds succeeded more fortunately than the Vine may 

 be readily accounted for : they got away upon better 

 terms with their fox. The Vine not having an efficient 

 whipper-in were dreadfully slack in leaving the coverts 

 and being slow in settling to the scent lost the most 

 important crisis. 



The notoriety and fame which the late Mr. John 

 Villebois attained as a sportsman, and the high esteem 

 in which he was held as a country gentleman, very 

 materially raised the character of Hampshire in public 

 estimation as a hunting district at a time when fox- 

 hunting was growing into favour. His Majesty George 

 the Fourth, when Prince of Wales, at one period 

 resided at Kempshot Park, and was a member of the 

 H. H. (the abbreviated distinction of the Hampshire 

 Hunt) ; and the Prince's Feathers with which the 

 buttons are still ornamented are the emblems of royal 

 patronage. His Royal Highness also keeping a pack 

 of stag-hounds attracted the wealthy men of fashion, 

 and doubtless Hampshire was in those days the scene 

 of much sylvan and jovial harmony. Mr. Villebois' 

 hounds are described as having been very superior. 



At his decease, in 1837 they were left to his brother, 

 Mr. F. Villebois, master of the Craven hounds, who in 

 return presented his pack to Major Barrett to hunt the 

 H. H. country with. The blood of the latter wasi prin- 

 cipally from Mr. T. A. Smith's, the Honourable H. 

 Moreton's, Mr. Osbaldeston's, and Mr. J. Villebois' 

 kennels, some of which may be still traced in the 

 present establishment, although, from changes of 

 mastership and divisions of the pack, it must be very 

 considerably dispersed. 



In February, 1840, I met these hounds twice, once at 

 Farley Mount, and once at North wood Park ; and from 

 the very high encomiums I had heard of their hunts- 

 man, Richard Foster, was particularly anxious to have 

 seen a run. But the elements decided against it, for it 

 does not require the aid of my memorandum-book to re- 



