EARLY HISTORY OF FOXHUNTING 17 



farmers." It speaks volumes for the real 

 merit of foxhunting that such determined 

 opposition as it encountered in the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century should have been 

 fairly lived down. 



A former Lord Wilton, quoted by the Duke 

 of Beaufort in the Badminton series, says it 

 was not until 1750 that hounds were entered 

 solely to fox. We shall show, at any rate, 

 that the country now known as the '* Old 

 Berks " has been continuously hunted by a 

 regularly established pack of hounds entered 

 solely to fox, from 1760. The Old Berkshire 

 Hounds may well claim, therefore, to rank 

 amongst the oldest packs in England. The 

 name Old Berkshire dates back to at least 

 1809.* 



* It is the custom to speak of the Old Berks Hunt 

 and Old Berks country, but of the Old Berkshire 

 Hounds. 



