214 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



well-known representative of TattersalFs, 

 at £3,500, or something like £50 a hound, 

 and that has been considered very cheap. 

 If, therefore, modern prices have not greatly 

 exceeded those of the far past, there has 

 not been any particular diminution, and 

 there is no doubt about it that if certain 

 packs could be purchased the prices would 

 far exceed anything ever reached before. 

 It has been stated on pretty good authority 

 that certain American gentlemen would 

 give £10,000 for either the Belvoir or the 

 Warwickshire, and a suggestion of this 

 was given less than two years ago, when, 

 after Ben Capel had been taking two 

 sportsmen from America through the 

 Belvoir kennels, a couple of bitches in 

 whelp, that had been running about in 

 the park, came up to them, and were so 

 greatly admired that one of the visitors 

 said to Capel, " You can tell your master 

 I will give him 500 sovereigns for those 

 two bitches." 



With prices on such a high scale, it is 

 really wonderful that the drafts are sold 

 at such low figures. For years it was the 

 custom to sell young drafts, the rough 

 with the smooth, for three guineas a coupxe, 

 and for old drafts the same, with five or 

 six guineas for second drafts. It is equally 

 wonderful, too, that those possessing judg- 

 ment and an eye to a hound may form a 

 very good pack in that way. The late 

 Mr. Henry Ashton, Master of the North 

 Warwickshire, took the view of buying 

 old draft bitches from good packs like the 

 Belvoir, Lord Galway's, the Brocklesby, 

 Lord Harrington's, and the Rufford, as it 

 seemed reasonable that they would not 

 have been kept four or five seasons in such 

 kennels unless they had been uncommonly 

 good. These he mated carefully to the 

 crack sires of the day, such as Gambler, 

 Gordon, and Galliard, and in six years 

 he made the pack that the late Lord 

 Willoughby de Broke valued at £2,500. 

 This requires great judgment, however, 

 for, as shown in these pages, there are 

 Foxhounds and Foxhounds, and in breed- 

 ing it does not do to accept conclusions 

 too quickly. The old breeders were very 



particular in regard to the sources from 

 which they drew fresh blood. Mr. Lane 

 Fox, for instance, would only touch four 

 or five kennels, no hearsay, or extra- 

 ordinary beauty of form had the slightest 

 effect on him. He would never use a sire 

 unless he had seen him in his work, and a 

 good thick gorse covert was one of his 

 favourite scenes for a trial of ability. 

 Those who can be led away by what other 

 people say will never make a pack of 

 Foxhounds. They would spoil one. for 

 that is not a difficult operation. As the 

 late Lord Portsmouth used to say, " It 

 takes a good man fifteen years to make 

 a pack of Foxhounds, and it takes a bad 

 one three years to spoil one." 



Much has been done of late years for 

 breeders of hounds and buyers by the 

 Messrs. Tattersall's Rugby sales, always 

 so ably conducted by Mr. J. R. Rawlence. 

 A pack can be easily made from amongst 

 those coming under that gentleman's ros- 

 trum. 



THE PETERBOROUGH SHOWS. 



The hound shows were commenced very 

 nearly as early as the dog shows. It 

 was in i860 that one was held at Yarm, 

 which was followed by a more important 

 one the next year at Middlesbrough. 

 From that time they became closely asso- 

 ciated with the Great Yorkshire Agricul- 

 tural Society under Mr. Tom Parrington, 

 and famous gatherings of the hunting world 

 were seen at York, Malton, Redcar, Harro- 

 gate, Beverley, Hull, Doncaster, Leeds, and 

 Driffield. Everyone talked of the York- 

 shire hound shows and of Tom Parrington, 

 who is still alive to tell the stories. Con- 

 templating retirement from the manager- 

 ship of the Great Yorkshire, he trans- 

 ferred the hound show to Peterborough in 

 1877, and in the interim it has become a 

 very great national institution. Masters of 

 hounds send representatives there from 

 every part of the kingdom, and the annual 

 show in July brings more hunting people 

 together than any other fixture of the 

 summer season. That the shows have 

 helped hound-breeding there can be no 



