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CHAPTER XXII. 



imUNDS AND MASTERS OF HOUNDS. 



Division of Packs of Fox-hounds — Private — Subscription — Breeding Packs — Names of — County Packs — Masters of Hounds — Of 

 Ancient .and of Modern Families — Names of .Sportsmen Born, not Made — Amount of Subscription — Cost of Hunting Fox- 

 hounds — Of Harriers — Tlie Difficulties of a Master of Hounds — Different Kinds of Masters — The Master who Hunts for 

 Sport — The Master who Hunts for Position — Advice to Huntsmen — A Superior Class of Servants — The Qualifications 

 Required — Knowledge of Plounds — Of Foxes — Of Country — Decision of Character — Horsemanship — The Old Idea of 

 Drunken Huntsmen False — Tom Moody not a Huntsman — Two- Model Huntsmen — Scent — A Mystery — Evidence from 

 Huntsmen in Many Countries — The Belvoir County — The Dorsetshire — The Herts — The Essex — The Brocklesby — The 

 Berkeley — The Fox-hound — How Brought to Perfection— By Careful Selection — For Certain Qualities — Importance of Even 

 Size — Average Sizes of Dogs and Bitches — Music of Hounds — Diminished by Pace — Canon Kingsley's Description of a Fox- 

 hound — Of a Hunt in Hampshire — The Fox — A Picture from Life — The Hunting Men — Note — An American's Ride with the 

 Milton Hounds — A Day in Sherwood_Forest, by the Author — Hunting Lessons — A Farmer's Grievance in Queen Anne's 

 Time — George HL the Farmer's Friend — The Hunting Clulj — Boodle's — Hunting Terms, List of. 



The attempt to give an historical and practical idea of modern fox-hunting, for the benefit 

 of aspirants, would not be complete without soine reference to Masters of hounds, huntsmen, 

 and hunting-fields. 



Out of 137 packs of fox-hounds in England and Scotland, recorded in the " Rural Almanack" 

 of 1874, the following were maintained without subscription: — The Belvoir, by the Duke of 

 Rutland ; the Brocklesby, by the Earl of Yarborough ; the Badminton, by the Duke of 

 Beaufort (formerly hunted by the duke himself, and in that year by the Marquis of Worcester) ; 

 the Berkeley, by Lord Fitzhardinge ; the Duke of Grafton's ; the Earl of FitzwiUiam's in 

 Yorkshire, formerly in Northamptonshire ; the Earl of Coventry's (hunted by himself) in Worcester- 

 shire ; the Cottesmore was taken up by the third Earl of Lonsdale on his accession to 

 his title, and since by his son the fourth earl (for many years it was a subscription 

 pack, but it was founded by one of his ancestors about a hundred years ago) ; the Lord 

 Leconficld's in Sussex ; the Earl of Portsmouth's in North Devon ; Lord Tredegar in South 

 Wales ; Sir Watkin William Wynn in North Wales. In Scotland the Duke of Bucclcuch 

 maintained the pack of fox-hounds established by himself in his minority, and the Earl of 

 Eglintoun the pack of hounds established by his father, of Eglintoun tournament memory. 

 In Ireland, the Marquis of Waterford kept up the famous Curraghmore Hounds. There may 

 be other packs less known to fame, maintained at their own expense by private gentlemen ; but 

 of the rest, by far the greater number are supported by subscription — in some cases limited to 

 the members of a county club, in others open to any man willing to pay the fixed minimum 

 contribution, and behave with common decency in the field. With respect to county clubs, 

 a man buying and residing on an estate in the county would be looked on coldly if he did 

 not subscribe; while in some instances — for instance with the Cheshire — "donations" arc 

 accepted from the hunting men of Liverpool and Manchester, but subscriptions with the right 

 to wear the club uniform are declined. 



