SHROPSHIRE 193 



but though his head was close to the trough, and the grateful viands 

 smoking under his nose, he never attempted to eat ; but on his 

 master saying to him, " Go back, Vulcan, you have no business 

 here ! " he immediately retreated, and mixed with the hungry crowd. 

 No whip was necessary to keep the hounds out of the feeding-house ; 

 and a gentle stroke of the thong — with very few exceptions — turned 

 such away from the troughs which refused to leave them on their 

 names being called. 



The kennel which now contains Sir Bellingham Graham's hounds 

 was built the year before last, by subscription, on a very liberal 

 scale, on ground purchased for the purpose, and reflects much 

 credit on Shropshire. It is capable of holding one hundred couples 

 of hounds, with every requisite convenience, and is situated within a 

 mile of Shrewsbury on the road to Whitchurch and Newport. Many 

 of the hounds were last year affected by kennel lameness, owing to 

 the dampness of the walls ; but this Sir Bellingham has effectually 

 put a stop to, by having a stove in each of the lodging-houses 

 Although the use of the stoves has not restored such hounds as were 

 previously affected, yet Sir Bellingham informed me that it has com- 

 pletely prevented the progress of the disease ; and so convinced is he 

 of the benefit derived from warmth in a kennel, that, after this 

 season, he intends having one large fire-place at the back of his 

 present kennel, with flues to convey warm air into the di^erent 

 apartments. As it is at present, it is curious to see how the hounds 

 enjoy the heat of the fire. They get around the stove as soon as 

 they come in ; and instead of seeing a damp steam, arising from 

 their wet skins, hanging over them for some time, they are dry and 

 comfortable in the space of a quarter of an hour. The temperature 

 is of course, after a certain time, reduced ; but it is amusing to see 

 how the hounds sit about the stove, nodding their heads in a dose, 

 as much as to say, " How comfortable we are ! " 



The stables adjoining the kennel are built on the same liberal 

 scale, and contain stalls for twenty horses and six loose boxes. The 

 joint expense of the stables, saddle-room, and kennel, exceeded the 

 sum of fifteen hundred pounds. 



Monday the 9th. — Thermometer at 28. Nothing for it again but 

 the kennel, and grumbling. 



o 



