INTRODUCTION 



*' Here's to the hound 

 With his nose upon the ground." 



Whytk Melville. 



Before dipping into what may be termed the real 

 substance of the work, it is expedient to refer, in a 

 general sense, to the comparative uses of the different 

 varieties of hounds, together with a sketch of the 

 analogy of each so far as the hound characteristics 

 are concerned. 



Lord Wilton, in a work entitled Sports and Pursuits 

 of the English, says that " about the year 1750 

 hounds began to be entered solely to fox," but there 

 is plenty of evidence to prove that long before this 

 date there were numerous fox-hunting establishments 

 in England. In the year 1713 Sir John Tyrwhitt, Mr 

 C. Pelham and Mr Robert Vyner came to an arrange- 

 ment that each lot of Foxhounds kept by them 

 should be united so as to form one pack, and that 

 their interests in the same should be divided. In all 

 there were 32 hounds, or 16 couples, and the gentle- 

 men named hunted the country (Brocklesby) from 

 1714, though the hunt was first founded about 1700. 



Within three or four seasons Messrs Vyner and 

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