THE FOXHOUND. 



207 



COL. THORNTONS FAMOUS BITCH HOUND MERKIN (1794), 



CHALLENGED TO RUN ANY HOUND OF THE YEAR 



FOR 10,000 GUINEAS. 



DRAWN BY SAWREY GILPIN, Engraved by J. SCOTT. 



breeding of hounds, and of their deeds in fifty such breeders, including the fifth 

 the field with the fox as their quarry. Duke of Beaufort, Lord Lincoln, Lord 



The first known kennel 

 of all was at Wardour 

 Castle, and was said to 

 have been established in 

 1696 ; but more reliable 

 is the date of the 

 Brocklesby, commenced 

 in 1713. The first record 

 of a pack of hounds being 

 sold was in 1730, when a 

 Mr. Fownes sold his pack 

 to a Mr. Bowles. The 

 latter gentleman showed 

 great sport with them in 

 Yorkshire. At that time 

 Lord Hertford began to 

 hunt the Cotswold coun- 

 try, in Gloucestershire, 

 and was the first to draw 

 coverts for fox in the 



modern style. Very soon after this it be- Stamford, Lord Percival, Lord Granby, 

 came the fashion of the day to breed Lord Ludlow, Lord Vernon, Lord Carlisle, 

 hounds. Many of the nobility and large Lord Mexbro, Sir Walter Vavasour, Sir 

 landowners devoted much of their time Roland Winns, Mr. Noel, Mr. Stanhope, 

 and money to it, and would take long Mr. Meynell, Mr. Barry, and Mr. Charles 

 journeys to get fresh blood. It was the Pelham. The last-named gentleman, after- 

 rule to breed hounds on the most scien- ward the first Lord Yarborough, was per- 

 tific principles, and by 1750 there were haps the most indefatigable of all, as he 



was the first to start 

 the system of walking 

 puppies amongst his 

 tenantry, on the 

 Brocklesby estates, and 

 of keeping lists of 

 hound pedigrees and 

 ages. By 1760 all the 

 above-named noblemen 

 and gentlemen had 

 been breeding from 

 each other's kennels. 

 The hounds were regis- 

 tered, as can be seen 

 now in Lord Middle- 

 ton's private kennel 

 stud book, through 

 which his lordship can 

 trace the pedigrees of 

 typical foxhounds of a hundred years ago. his present pack for a 



From " The Sportsman's Cabinet " (1803). By P. Reinagle, R.A. hundred and sixty years 



