HISTORY OF THE KILDARE HUNT 



Mr Boothby died in 1752, and it is said that he 

 gave his parish church a peal of bells " so tuned 

 as to resemble the cry of a pack of hounds." The 

 Charlton Hunt, later the Goodwood, hunted foxes at 

 about the same date, and the Brocklesby Hunt was 

 recognized as a pack of fox hounds in a document 

 of 1713. 



But these and such other packs of hounds as 

 existed in the early part of the eighteenth century 

 were the appanage of the smaller country gentle- 

 men and yeomen; they were mostly trencher fed, 

 and assembled at a meet from the various home- 

 steads at which they were maintained, singly or 

 in couples. The term " whipper in " still in vogue 

 was first applied to the official who went round to 

 collect the hounds on hunting days. It is probable 

 that foxhounds were still the exception during the 

 first half of the eighteenth century at least, and that 

 the majority of packs were as yet harriers. It is cer- 

 tain that many of the old school kept to the hare. 

 I have quoted Somerville in this sense, and it is 

 known that the original Vine hounds kept by 

 Mr Chute, Horace Walpole's friend in Hamp- 

 shire, did not give up the hare for the fox until 

 1791. 



Meanwhile in England, and probably in Ireland, 

 the great families among the aristocracy hunted 

 the deer. At great houses like Belvoir, Badminton 

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