28G THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



We found the huntsman, Burton, slowly recovering 

 from a severe fall, experienced at the end of last season, 

 from the effects of which, I fear, he has since suffered 

 relapse. The condition of his hounds offered ample 

 testimony of the excellence of his system of kennel ; 

 and he seemed fully to partake of the relish with which 

 we separately examined the whole of seventeen couples 

 of a most promising lot, put forward as the entry of the 

 present season. Having heard much of the gigantic 

 size of this pack, I was prepared to find them in cha- 

 racter more resembling the sort of hound considered 

 best adapted to the chase of the stag, than to fox-hunt- 

 ing ; I was, therefore, most agreeably surprised at finding 

 the average height not exceeding that of any other lot 

 of fine well-bred hounds ; and still more so, at hearing 

 that the standard had been gradually reduced within 

 the last few years. There are, in Mr. Assheton Smith's 

 country, vast tracts of down, over which a scent will 

 lie so well that the tallest hounds may fly without the 

 trouble of lowering their noses ; but there are also many 

 joarts where they must stoop — where they must hunt 

 before they run. Having, in my own kennel, a very 

 great favourite, by Mr. A. Smith's Radical, out of his 

 Benefit, I was anxious to see the sire, and could not 

 conceal my delight at finding that, when I had been led 

 to expect Brobdignagian proportions, the hound which, 

 on account of his own merits and those of his blood, was 

 of the highest repute, would scarcely measure two and 

 twenty inches. Inferior only in height to any — superior 

 in performance to most — this Radical had been a chosen 



