CHAPTER XV. 

 THE PACK {continued). 



Here's to the hound 



With his nose upon the ground. 



Whyte Melville. 



Yelled on the view the opening pack. 



Scott {Lady of the Lake). 



The question as to how the old pack which under 

 the Aclands, Bassets, Fortescues, Chichesters, and 

 others showed such excellent sport in ihe latter half 

 of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth 

 centuries, compared with the hounds of the present 

 day, is an interesting if somewhat difhcult one, but 

 an inquirer has the advantage of a certain number 

 of records which throw some light on the matter. 



The unavoidable conclusion which must be drawn 

 from the evidence, in spite of all assertion to the 

 contrary, must be that the modern pack is a good 

 deal faster than the old pack, but how much faster 

 it is impossible to estimate. 



In the appendix to Dr. Collyns's book are the 

 accounts of a series of great runs taken mostly from 

 the diary of Parson Boyse, of Withypool. They 

 contain frequent references to the pace, to horses 



