NOIROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 421 



me as being hounds of more power than when I saw them last, which 

 was on my Yorkshire Tour in 1827. Their standard height, however, 

 appeared to be about the same — namely, dog hounds about twenty-three, 

 and bitches twenty-two inches. Nothing need be more perfect than 

 they are ; or more justly entitled to the high character they bear ; 

 but taking into consideration the length of time this pack has been under 

 the direction of the master of it, and that he puts out from sixty to 

 seventy couples of puppies every year, we cease to wonder at their being 

 so, or that, in what must be altogether considered only a second-rate 

 country, and interrupted by railroads, their average number of foxes 

 killed for many years past, amounts to fifty brace ! It is also worthy of 

 notice, that the numbers killed by the dog and bitch packs for some 

 years past, has been very nearly equal. It was one a-head in favour of 

 the bitches, for that individual season — up to the time I mean of my last 

 visit to Mr. Lambton. 



On our return to Merton House, we looked over the stables, in which 

 I counted twenty-five hunters, besides several hacks. I likewise saw 

 the corn and meal lofts, so well stored indeed, as to induce me to ask 

 Mr. Lambton, whether he was not afraid of having such a weight sus- 

 pended over his horses* heads. The stables had just been set fair, and 

 the servants gone to their dinners, so that I could not have seen 

 them at a more favourable time; and I must say their neat appear- 

 ance, coupled with the excellent condition and sound state of the stud, 

 reflected the highest credit on John Winter, the huntsman — under 

 whose superintendence they have, for so many years, been placed. 



Merton House is a most complete residence for a sportsman ; it has 

 every possible convenience for horses and servants, all within itself, as 



