The Foxhound. 73 



mountains of its native county to the downs of 

 the southern one. 



There is an old huntsman in the Enghsh Lake 

 •district, Tommy Dobson by name, who runs the 

 Eskdale pack. He is a bobbin turner by trade, 

 but manages to keep a lot of excellent working 

 hounds and terriers together, the farmers and 

 some landowners in that wild district giving him 

 so much a head for the foxes he kills. He hunts on 

 foot, for no horse could follow where he goes. 

 Repeatedly he has long runs ; his hounds get lost for 

 a time, but they usually arrive at their kennels the 

 day following the hunt. Dobson is a keen old 

 sportsman, and may be the sole survivor in England 

 of a class of men that can never be replaced. He 

 kills twenty foxes or so in the season, much to the 

 pleasure of the shepherds and farmers in this wildest 

 part of our Lake district, who paid him so much per 

 head from a fund provided for the purpose. Now 

 that Dobson has well passed his three score years 

 and ten, although he still hunts as of yore, ample 

 provision has been made for him when he feels 

 inclined to rest from the perils of the chase. 



" Trencher fed " packs of hounds are not so 

 numerous as once was the case, though such are 

 still to be found. They get their name from the 

 fact that they are not kept in kennels, but individual 



