174 FOX-HUNTING FROM SHIRE TO SHIRE 



The question of foxhound colouring arose during 

 the evening, and when talking of this, Lord Lonsdale 

 incidentally brought in the story of Quorn Alfred, 

 a roan and white hound, got as a whelp in a draft 

 from the Craven by Mr Coupland. Quorn Alfred 

 by Mr Garth's Painter, developed into a beautifully 

 made dog ; a great hound in chase and at the stud, 

 winning the championship for his kennel at the 

 Alexandra Palace Foxhound Show in 1875. Tom 

 Firr thought the world of Alfred, and filled the 

 kennel with his get, immortalizing his favourite by 

 a clever pencil sketch — which Mrs Firr most kindly 

 allows to be published for the first time. "In a 

 level pack," Lord Lonsdale went on to say, " a 

 conspicuously coloured hound is a nuisance, because 

 if he is a leader people get riding to him, more often 

 than not riding him on to a hare, letting you know 

 all about it afterwards ! The consequence is that 

 the odd coloured hound has to be drafted before 

 arriving at a third season hunter." Lord Lonsdale's 

 record as a hound-breeder is very interesting and 

 instructive ; for having owned numerous packs 

 during a variety of masterships, covering a period 

 of thirty years, he has always declared for one 

 particular strain of blood. I think I am right in 

 saying that the first pack of hounds of any import- 

 ance owned by Lord Lonsdale was the one he pur- 

 chased from Mr Henry Chaplin in 1881, the year 

 that gentlemen gave up the mastership of the 

 Blankney owing to the demands made on his time 

 by parliamentary duties. Of these hounds Mr 

 Chaplin has said : "I bought them from Lord 

 Henry Bentinck — that would be about 1871 — and 

 sold them to Lord Lonsdale. In the opinion of the 

 best and finest judges of the time, they stood almost 

 alone." Hunting history goes to prove that for 



