82 NIMROD'S HUNTING TOUR 



that a messenger should be despatched to Chipping Norton for some 

 bread for the homids ; but just as he was on the point of setting off, 

 Bob Forfeit came to inform him there was no need of bread, as one 

 of the Oxford gentlemen's horses was dead, and another would die 

 before he was got cold. 



It is not to be supposed that in the space of half a century, favored 

 even as he has been, that Mr. Ward's hunting establishment has 

 been free from evils incident to all human institutions ; and in his 

 kennel and in his stable he has more than once risen like a phoenix 

 from its ashes. Twice he has been visited by madness ; and in one 

 year he lost forty-five couples of hounds by that dreadful malady, 

 and thirteen horses by the glanders. He was once reduced to one 

 hound bitch, called Festive, which was got by Jason, a brother to 

 the New Forest Justice. Once also he sold his pack to Lord Althorp 

 for 1000 guineas, reserving two couples of bitches to himself. Those, 

 however, who can remember Mr. Ward's hounds twenty years ago 

 can plainly perceive that it has not been in the power of money, 

 madness, or even grim Death himself, to annihilate his favorite sort ; 

 for his present kennel of hounds, with very few exceptions, are 

 exactly in his own mould. 



Mr. Ward's hounds are now hunted by William Neverd, who has 

 been in his service about seventeen years. He lived several years 

 with Colonel Cook, who once hunted part of the Staffordshire 

 country, and who also had the Hambledon hounds for three seasons. 

 He is assisted by two whippers-in, one of whom, Will Hedden, has 

 been with Mr. Ward eleven years. From some cause or other, his 

 voice sounds as if it were cracked, and falls on the ear in several 

 distinct tones. His rate to hounds, however, is a very good one, 

 and he knows what he is about. 



Previous to his whipping-in to Mr. Ward, Hedden lived under 

 Filer, who hunted the Craven hounds when under the management 

 of Mr. Dundas, the Member for Berkshire ; and who ended his days 

 in the service of the Marchioness of Salisbury. He has been heard 

 to say that he never liked fox-hunting ; but having been bred up 

 with hounds, he should not leave them. Thus is the proverb 

 verified, " Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is 

 old he will not depart from it." 



