HAMPSHIRE 111 



scarlet coat, and the evening costume consists of a blue coat, with 

 white kersymere waistcoat, having the gilt button, with the letters 

 H. H. under the plume, handsomely embossed on its surface. 



The father of the H. H. is that well-known sportsman Mr. Graeme, 

 who resides in the neighbourhood of Alresford ; and with whom 

 fox-hounds and the other good things of this world have agreed so 

 well, that he is said to look as young as he did twenty years ago, 

 and is one of the few men who ride hard and well at his time of life. 



Mr. Villebois' kennel consists of seventy couples of hunting 

 hounds ; and his usual entry is from twenty-two to twenty-four 

 couples. He divides them into two packs — one called the large, 

 and the other the small pack — the average height of the first being 

 from tw^enty-two inches and a half to twenty-four and a half, and of 

 the other from twenty to twenty-two ; and this division of the 

 kennel makes them very even to the eye. As may be supposed, 

 there are rather more bitches than dog-hounds in the small pack, 

 though there are nine or ten couples of the latter. 



An unparalleled instance occurred two years back of Mr. Ville- 

 bois taking out a pack for the day's hunting all got by one hound 

 out of four hitches. The name of the sire was Pontiff, and the bitches 

 were Vengeance, Thoughtless, Notable, and Milliner — the two last 

 now running with the pack. There are no less than nine couples of 

 hunting hounds now in the kennel out of the first-named bitch got 

 by Pontiff; some five, some four, some three, and some two-year- 

 old hunters, but all distinguished by their tanned heads, and all 

 good of their kind. One of them — Patriot — can do anything that is 

 required of him ; and what is also singular, there are four couples 

 of one-year hunters got by Patriot out of a bitch called Lady — a 

 descendant (by Lashwood) of Sir Thomas Mostyn's Lady. Patriot 

 is not only a brilliant chase-hound, but his nose is particularly 

 good ; and I saw him make a most beautiful turn a short time since 

 on the heel of the whole pack — going away singly to his fox. He is 

 a great favorite of Foster, who sometimes violates the prosody of 

 the kennel, and calls him by the familiar name of Pat. His sister 

 Penitent is equally good, and if possible a harder-working hound 

 than himself. 



Patriot, I perceive, will be a favorite stud-hound in Mr. Villebois' 



