THE OPPIDAN BEAGLES. 5 



One dozen rabbits came for sport. We turned them out and 

 killed them. One ran into the river by Upper Hope. 



" Thursday, IStJi Feb. Stayed out. The Beagles met at 

 the Iron Bridge over Chalvey. Mitchell mi. gave us a live hare 

 to turn out before them. We turned it out in view and she 

 took us a long round by the gasworks, where a man caught and 

 turned it out again, and we ran it for 30 minutes and lost it by 

 Chalvey Village across the road there. Altogether we ran this 

 hare 55 minutes." 



The most interesting development comes a little later. The 

 Masters did not all by any means approve of the institution of 

 Beagles, although they must by now have known of the College 

 pack, which had already existed a whole season. On the 13th 

 of March the following entry appears : 



*' Goodford sent for me and stopped the Beagles. Didn't 

 care for that. Joined with Hussey after 4, turned out a brace 

 of hares and killed them. One ran into the Cemetery Church- 

 yard and jumped the wall about five feet high. Coming home we 

 saw a weasel up a tree. Soon stoned him down, and after 

 rushing up and down a hedge for some time Modesty killed it, 

 I have sent it to be stuffed." 



But the Half was nearly at an end, and it closed without 

 further incident. Dr. Goodford made no further attempt to 

 check the progress of Beagling during the fortnight that 

 remained, either because he imagined that his order had been 

 o}>eyed or because he was disposed to wink at their existence. 

 This is what the late Mr. Charles Tayleur of Buntingsdale 

 Hall, Market Drayton, said of Charrington and his Beagles in a 

 letter to the late Vice-Provost in 1899 : 



** Charrington was at my Tutor's, a friend of mine though 

 a trifle senior, and we used to go hunting with terriers or anything 

 we could find ; till it was, I believe, at my suggestion that a few 

 Beagles should be got together, that Charrington adopted the 

 idea. I helped him from the start in conjunction with Johnstone, 

 and afterwards had as coadjutor Chambers and I believe 

 Schneider, but in the early days whipping-in was done by any one 

 appointed that was out. This was certainly the first pack of 

 Beagles, as those started by Lawless were an afterthought on 

 the part of some seniors in the School. We ran a drag to start, 

 and hares when we could find them ; but we got into trouble 

 sometimes hunting the latter at first. The first bag-fox we 

 hunted was sent to me from I.eadenhall Market by my uncle, 

 the late W. Tayleur of Buntingsdale, and he showed us many 

 a good run — as we kept him pretty fat to prevent him out- 



