INDEPENDENT TESTIMONY. 



My work is complete, and a pleasant task it lias been, 

 though by no means an easy one ; and now, in conclusion, 

 it may not be inappropriate to devote a brief chapter to 

 the opinions of a few masters of hounds and huntsmen on 

 the value of the Brocklesby blood — opinions which, coming 

 from the men they do, must have weight in the fox-hunt- 

 ing world. 



In a letter I received from his Grace the Duke of 

 Beaufort, to whom I am indebted for some enjoyable days 

 with the Badminton, he says that most people who have 

 studied hound breeding know that the Brocklesby hounds 

 have always borne a very high character for work and 

 stoutness. A few years ago he used Acrobat with great 

 success, and quite recently some very good hounds by 

 Harper, both in looks and work, were entered at Badmin- 

 ton. Several of these I saw when last at Badminton, and 

 particularly liked the three sisters Hasty, Harpy, and 

 Haughty, the latter a winner at Peterborough. Many of 

 the favourite sires now at Badminton throw back to 

 Brocklesby blood, and Nelson, I know, is a direct descen- 

 dant of Will Smith's old Ranter of 1842. 



The letter from Mr. J. L. Cooper, kennel huntsman to 

 Lord Willoughby de Broke, at the time when the Warwick- 

 shire were doing such great things, both in their own 

 county and on the Peterborough flags, and now huntsman 

 to the V.W.H. (Lord Bathurst's), may be given as it 

 stands ; and it will be seen in what esteem Mr. Cooper, 

 whose father hunted the pack with which the Brocklesby 

 was so intimately connected in the past — the Belvoir — 

 thinks of the blood. 



