58 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



portance by all masters and huntsmen of the old 

 school. 



Before the commencement of the last century, 

 kennel management and genealogical records re- 

 ceived little attention. We have had authentic 

 information as to the time when three of the first 

 foxhunting establishments had their commence- 

 ment. The Duke of Beaufort's in 1753, antece- 

 dent to which staghounds, foxhounds, and harriers 

 occupied the Badminton kennels. The Duke of 

 Rutland's about the year 1768, and Lord Fitz- 

 william's before 1765, when the celebrated pack of 

 Mr. Child was transferred to the Milton kennels, 

 with their huntsman William Deane, who hunted 

 them thirty-five years. It is not probable that in 

 these great kennels such an attempt at improve- 

 ment, or rather alteration, has been made since their 

 establishment, by an infusion of greyhound blood ; 

 but that such a cross had been tried many years 

 previously is not so improbable. 



In ancient times the chase of wolf, boar, and 

 stag occupied the attention of our Anglo-Saxon and 

 Norman ancestors, and for the purpose of dislodg- 

 ing them from their sylvan ftistnesses, a variety of 

 dogs were used — bloodhounds, rough greyhounds, 

 and mastiffs ; and most probably their hunting packs 

 contained a mixture of these three breeds — to find 

 and hunt them from their harbour in the woods, 

 from which, when forced to fly, they were chased 

 by the deerhounds, and the hunters mounted on 

 horses trained for the purpose, carrying cross-bows 

 and spears. Wolf and boar hunting differed as 



