1863] " CECIL." 217 



the polite attentions of tlie pack alarm them, to fly for 

 their lives with the utmost precipitancy. It is neverthe- 

 less a very difiicult task to kill them, a conclusion at 

 which I arrived on the very first day I met these hounds 

 at Kadburne Hall, and my impression was confirmed by 

 Tom Leedham. As there are scarcely any holding coverts, 

 or points for foxes to make, their line of country is not 

 guided by those accustomed instincts which enable ob- 

 servant huntsmen to make advantageous casts. Hounds, 

 generally unassisted, must exert their powers." It is 

 worth while to note here that Tom's testimony bears out 

 that of Charles, his nephew, who always stoutly main- 

 tained that it was not a good scenting country, and was an 

 extremely diflficult one to kill foxes in. Moreover, the 

 evidence carries weight for this reason, that no one ever 

 got a Leedham to agree with him out of politeness. 

 There are plenty of people who, if you say, " It seems a 

 good scenting country," will say, " Yes ; " and if the next 

 man says, "It seems bad," will say, "Yes" again, with 

 equal readiness. But if you said to a Leedham, " It 

 seems a good scenting country," he would have promptly 

 replied, " I call it a very bad one." Such answers are not 

 pleasant, but they have the advantage of being genuine. 



"Cecil" goes on to say, after a digression about the 

 geography of the country, that he understood that Mr. 

 Meynell Ingram started at first with some of Lord Ver- 

 non's hounds, and that then, being anxious to obtain as 

 much as possible of his grandfather's famous blood, he got 

 an extensive addition from Mr. Heron. We know pretty 

 well, from earlier writers, what that addition was, viz. one 

 couple, or a couple and a half. Here " Cecil " also writes as 

 if there was not much Quorndon blood in the Hoar Cross 

 kennels at first. It would be interesting if some one 

 could throw some light on the subject. Even that great 

 authority, Mr. Cecil Legard, confessed that the matter was 

 beyond his ken, though he, also, thought that probably 

 the hounds which were in the Hoar Cross Kennels at the 

 l)eginning of the century came from Quorndon. 



