1713] THE HOUNDS. 247 



said Sir Joliii Tyrwhitt and Mr. Pelham shall he joined in 

 one pack, and the three have a joint interest in the said 

 hounds for five years, each for one-third of a year." It 

 was also agreed that the establishment should consist of 

 sixteen couples of hounds, three horses, and a huntsman 

 and a boy, so apparently they only hunted one or two 

 days a week. From this we may conclude that ~Mv. Pelham 

 had a pack of hounds somewhere about 1700, 



Colonel Cook, in his most interesting book, " Obser- 

 vations on Fox-hunting and the Management of Hounds," 

 which was published in 182(3, says — 



"Lord Yarborough's Hounds luive been kept in a straight line since 1700 

 certain ; but they ihinJc considerahl ij longer (more than one luuidred and twenty 

 years). The present Smith, Lord Yarborough's huntsman, his father and his 

 grandfather, have hunted tlie Iiounds in succession /ro/u ^/e/terai/o/i to generation. 

 The father of tlie present Smitii inuited them tifty-five years without inter- 

 ruption." 



The italics are Colonel C'ook's, and " the present Smith " 

 the first Will Smith, who carried the Brocklesby horn from 

 1816 till his fatal accident, in 1845, 



Yet another authority, Mr. Robert Vyner, in his 

 " Notititia Venatica," published in 1849, refers to the good 

 work done by the Brocklesby at the close of the eighteenth 

 and the beginning of the nineteenth century. He says — 



•' Houti(l-l)reeding was, at that period, as scientifically pursued as slieep- 

 breeding, and the successful perseverance of Mr. Meynell and the tirst Lord 

 Yarborough will ever be deserving of the warmest gratitude from true sports- 

 men, for lighting up as they did what might be justly termed the damn of science 

 in the chase." 



Mr. Vyner also adds, whilst referring to the Brocklesby 

 as the first of a list of old packs — • 



" The original stocks, from which tlie most fashionable sorts are descended, 

 are from the pack of the Earl of Yarborough (the family of Pelliam having 

 possessed hounds of the same breed for nearly two centuries)." 



A very remarkable fact is that the pedigree of each 

 occupant of the Brocklesby benches can be traced back to 

 1746 without a break, and the kennel list for that year 

 lies before me as I write. In that year I find six and a 



