372 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



John Dashwood's sort, but I am quite certain they are Mr. Yeatman's 

 sort, who bred from Sir John's blood, as Mr. Hay informed me he pur- 

 chased them of a Mr. Vibart, of Amberd-house, near Taunton, which is 

 within easy distance of Stock-house kennel. I must admit that, up to 

 this time I have never seen a pack of harriers come so near the standard 

 of excellence which Sir John Dashwood's possessed, as one I saw some 

 years back in Mr. Yeatman's possession, and having rather the advan- 

 tage of Sir John's in power. There were three bitches in Mr. Hay's 

 pack, Restless and Laurel (red and grey pie) and a black tanned bitch, 

 called Glory, with a grey pied hound, whose name I forget, which I 

 considered fac-similes of the old sort— descendants, a long way back, from 

 a draft hound of the Duke of Grafton's, called Tyrant, and others from 

 his Grace's kennel. These hounds of Mr. Hay have excellent sport, 

 generally killing, I understood, on an average between fifty and sixty 

 brace of hares, — the last season before I saw them, they killed seventy- 

 seven brace — eating them all by permission, except ten brace ! 

 They had one run when I was in the country, that exceeds in distance 

 any thing I ever heard of before, with harriers, and especially over an 

 enclosed country. It was estimated as covering an extent of fifteen 

 miles, in which the hare swam a strong stream, and went straight through 

 several large covers, before she died ! Now, I always make a little 

 allowance for distance stated in runs, and especially when stated by the 

 master of the pack, who never makes the worst of things ; but as the 

 extent of country travelled over from point to point, was nine miles, 

 and the extreme points right and left, at least four miles, as shown 

 to me on the map, the extra credit taken, if any, could not have 

 been much. We may set it down as a very unusual occurrence in the 

 sporting world ; and the only parallel one to it that I ever heard of, was 

 a run with Sir John Dashwood's hounds, from the Slate-pits on the 



