204 THE NEW FOREST 



and sympathetic friend, and sent us year by 

 year a draft of dog-hounds, from which, if dis- 

 temper was not too hard on us, we could easily 

 select the small entry required to be put forward 

 for a two-days-a-week pack. 



Lord Portman, too, was ever a generous friend 

 from first to last, and in most years sent us a 

 couple or two that were most serviceable. Some 

 of his hounds, I noticed, year by year, took more 

 than one season to enter and settle down, but 

 they were generally very stout hounds, and in 

 many cases lasted for a season or two longer 

 than the average. 



From Brocklesby, too, where my old friend 

 Maunsel Richardson was at that time hunting 

 the dog pack, Lord Yarborough often sent us 

 a useful young hound, and everything that came 

 from Brocklesby always had plenty of tongue, 

 and used it in the right place. 



Little dogs, those that in great kennels would 

 have to run with the bitches, if kept at all, were 

 what I used to beg from my kind friends, and 

 many a charming hound was sent us that was 

 deemed too good to draft at first, but was not 

 up to the standard of a really high -class dog 

 pack. But he generally grew enough to look 

 quite at home in the pack of 2 3 -inch dog-hounds 

 which was presently got together. 



