304 THE BROCKLESBY HOUNDS. 



"The Brocklesby sires do not appear in the Warwickshire Honnd Lists 

 before 1840, with the exception of Wildboy, Cypher, and Gambler, who were 

 sires of draft hounds obtained from the Brocklesby Pack by Mr. Fellowes in 

 1827, and by Mr. Granville in 1837. In 1838 my grandfather succeeded Mr. 

 Granville in the Mastership of the Warwickshire, and in 1840 and 1841 entered 

 hounds sired by the Brocklesby Fumer and King^vood. He subsequently used 

 Druid in 1842, Herald in 1850, Bellman in 1853, Eegulus in 1854, and Hercules 

 in 1855 ; while Mr. Lucy, the next Master, availed himself of the services of 

 Hector in 1856, and of Blucher in 1864; but I cannot trace the descent of the 

 above down to the present day. 



"My father took the Warwickshire Hounds in 1876, and in the following 

 year acquired a draft from the Brocklesby, in which was a bitch by Alfred 

 called Hasty, her dam Hasty, by Bachelor from Harmony, having been entered 

 at Brocklesby in 1871. This Hasty was mated with the Warwickshire Archibald 

 by Quorn Alfred from Eival by Lord Coventry's Rambler ; this union proved a 

 fortunate one. An alliance of their daughter Handsome with the Milton Solomon 

 producing Harper, who was entered in 1885, and became one of the most famous 

 fox-hounds ever bred by Lord Willoughby de Broke, who says he never cheered 

 a better. 



" Standing twenty-three inches, he was symmetrically formed, with fine 

 quality of muscle, and was destined to prove a great success as a stallion hound, 

 his endurance, tongue, and drive being repeated in his numerous descendants in 

 the Warwickshire and other kennels. Of these perhaps the best known is his 

 son Hermit from Ruthless by Furley, entered at Kineton in 1889, who, though 

 lacking the extra turn of speed possessed by his sire, inherited all his sterling 

 qualities, which, coupled with his symmetry, caused him to appear constantly 

 on the list of many hound breeders. Of late years Acrobat was in 1893 mated 

 with Traitress by Furley, with the result that Alfred and Alice appear in the 

 Warwickshire entry of 1894. Alice is the dam of Ganger, now in his third 

 season, who has some promising stock at quarters. My father is not well enough 

 to write, but hopes this letter may be sufficient for your purpose. 



" Yours faithfully, 



" R. G. Verxey." 



May I, in couclusion, quote the opinions of two old 

 and celebrated Brocklesby huntsmen ? 



Mr. Nimrod Long writes from Berkeley that he always 

 had the very highest opinion of Brocklesby blood, not 

 only after he went there, in 1864, but before that time; 

 and he thinks that the combination of Belvoir and 

 Brocklesby blood could not be surpassed. He considers 

 that when he left Brocklesby, in the spring of 1877, that 

 there was no pack in England to beat it, in proof of 

 which he points to the sport they showed, the popularity 

 of the stallion hounds in other kennels, and the many 

 first and champion prizes taken by the Brocklesby hounds 

 at the Yorkshire Hound Shows for several years previous 



