The Beagle. 103 



book are big, rather large hounds, many from thirteen 

 to sixteen inches, and the oldest pack is the Royal 

 Rock, hunting from near Birkenhead, Cheshire, 

 established in 1845 ^Y Colonel Anstruther Thompson, 

 who brought them out of Essex. Sir Marteine 

 Lloyd, with the kennel at Llandyssil, South Wales, 

 has had the hounds in his family since 1846, and 

 they have been carefully bred from true strains. 

 The Cheshire Beagle Hunt Club have some hounds 

 good both in appearance and work, and their 

 Graceful and Music won leading honours at Peter- 

 borough in 1891. Christ Church, Oxford, has 

 beagles of its own, originally established in 1874, 

 but the pack experienced vicissitudes, especially in 

 1886, when, dumb madness breaking out, all the 

 hounds were destroyed. The then Master, Mr. 

 F. B. Craven, soon got twelve couples of merry little 

 hounds together, and the establishment is now as 

 strong as ever. The Stockton pack, with Mr. 

 T. H. Faber, Master, includes hounds up to sixteen 

 inches, some of them very typical specimens, and 

 evidently pure beagles, but others appear to come 

 pretty nearly the modern harrier type. Near London, 

 at Surbiton, Mr. H. V. Walsh masters the pack that 

 Mr. R. W. Cobb got together in 1882. Since that 

 time, when it hunted only on a Saturday, it has been 

 considerably strengthened by the present Master, 



