THE VALUE OF FOXHOUNDS 221 



hound-flesh have been made many a time and oft, 

 while, on the other hand, purchasers have had on more 

 occasions than one to pay very dearly for the hound of 

 their choice. 



In the year 1808 Lord Althorp wrote to his father, 

 " I have to tell you that I have concluded the bargain 

 with John Warde, and am to give him ;!^iooo for the 

 hounds," and few readers of hunting history will need 

 to be reminded that the last-named celebrated master, 

 eighteen years later, parted with another pack to Mr. 

 Horlock, who followed him in the mastership of the 

 Craven, for 2000 gs. Taking a leap to the year 1845, 

 one reads in Cecil that when Mr. Foljambe parted with 

 his establishment Messrs. Tattersall sold his hounds 

 for him at the kennels, the sale realising the sum of 

 ^35oo> while, when Captain Williams, who was master 

 of the Rufford for twenty years (i 841 -61), gave up, the 

 same well-known firm sold his pack for 2681 gs. As 

 many hunting men know, the celebrated Quorn Hunt 

 has seen its hounds sold on several occasions, and in 

 his first season (1806-7) M^* Assheton Smith gave Mr. 

 Musters 1000 gs. for several couples, while later on 

 Lord Suffield purchased Mr. Ralph Lambton's hounds 

 for 3000 gs., or 1000 gs. more than had ever been given 

 for a pack up to that time. His lordship, however, 

 found that it was quite one thing to buy and another 

 to sell, for when the auctioneer's hammer ended his 

 regime^ his expensive purchase is said to have realised 

 no more than 1000 gs., while some hunting historians 

 indeed declare that the amount paid for them was only 

 490 gs., when the pack went north to hunt Mr. Robert- 

 son's country in Northumberland, afterwards that of 

 Lord Wemyss, but for the last forty years known as 

 the Percy country. When Mr. Hodgson left Leicester- 



