PETERBOROUGH AND THE FITZWILLIAM HUNT 9 



elude a life-size portrait of his father's favourite 

 hound, Bluster, hanging on the wall of the smoking 

 room, resembling in type the present occupants 

 of the benches. 



Like the Belvoir, the Fitzwilliam have been well 

 managed by huntsmen, the acknowledged best of 

 their time, holding long tenures of ofhce, Will 

 Deane, Tom Sebright, and George Carter accom- 

 plishing nearly 130 seasons between them, from 

 1760 to 1888. During old George Carter's kennel 

 management, the pack reached a very high 

 standard of excellence, sweeping the board of 

 prizes at Peterborough, year after year. In chase 

 they have always been distinguished for nose, 

 tongue, and drive, and packs who turned to them 

 for improvement in the past, are to-day grateful for 

 the stout Milton blood which comes out top, whether 

 in the field or on the flags. 



Undoubtedly the nature of the country over 

 which a pack has hunted for generations plays a very 

 important part in the formation of character ; and 

 the varied conditions, under which the Fitzwilliam 

 hunt, have always been considered conducive to 

 develop those sterling qualities which distinguish 

 the foxhound. In an area of country thirty by 

 twenty miles, which lies in Huntingdonshire and 

 parts of Northamptonshire, quite forty per cent, 

 is strong plough, with a certain amount of rich fen 

 land, twenty per cent, woodland, and forty per 

 cent, pasture. Preserving foxes for a succession of 

 Fitzwilliams almost amounts to a religion, and the 

 ' following ' numbers scions who for generations 

 have farmed and hunted in the country, as their 

 fathers did before them : 



The old strains have been bred up to by the 

 present master (Mr George C. Wentworth Fitz- 



