12 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



hurry-scurry, helter-skelter, tallhy-ho, whoo-hoop sys- 

 tem of the present day is not fox huntiiigi but fox 

 murdering. 



Hounds are not so much faster now-a-days than they 

 were formerly, but the system is faster. I know this i.- 

 debateable ground, and 1 shall probably be laughed at 

 for such a remark. But let the fast men of the present 

 day try the experiment ; let them match two couples of 

 their fastest hounds against time, over the Beacon Course, 

 at Newmarket, and see if they can beat Mr. Barry's 

 Bluecap, who, in the famous match with Mr. Meynell's 

 hounds, ran the four miles in a few seconds over eight 

 minutes. Colonel Thornton's bitch, Merkin, is said to 

 have run the same distance in seven minutes and half a 

 second. Beat this, my fast young brother fox hunters 

 of the present day, and then laugh if you can ! 



I am, however, now going too fast myself, and skirt- 

 ing decidedly. Hark back ! to my subject — purchasing 

 hounds. When a pack is sold at the hammer, it is 

 generally in lots, so that you may get a few couples of 

 good hounds to begin upon, if you are not inclined to 

 purchase the entire pack. Sometimes a very fair pack 

 of hounds (not first-rate, of course) may be boughji for 

 about £500, and there is a great advantage in having a 

 pack made to your hand, although not anything, perhaps, 

 very particular; but to obtain almost any body of hounds 

 which have been working together is far better than 

 undertaking the arduous task of forming one from drafts, 

 and in the end less expensive also. You can soon im- 

 prove them by infusing other blood, or adding occasion- 

 ally a few couples from other kennels. In the event, 

 however, of not having an opportunity of purchasing a 



