HORSES AND HOUNDS. 247 



and properly conducted), are deterred, by the ruinous expendi- 

 ture of their unsopliisticated predecessor, to attempt the reduc- 

 tion of things to their proper level, with the inevitable result of 

 those unfair comparisons which will be drawn between his 

 management and the splendid and lavish expenditure of the 

 late master. It has been truly said, that what is Avorth doing 

 at all is worth doing w^ell. This is particularly applicable to a 

 fox-hunting establishment, but I should be doing little service 

 to the cause of the noble science were I to withhold my decided 

 disapprobation of the extravagant manner in which many hunt- 

 ing establishments are conducted, and I feel assured that every 

 true sportsman and ardent lover of this our national sport will 

 agree with me in these remarks. 



About twenty years ago I made a tour with a friend through ' 

 grass countries, and visited all the great establishments of that 

 day. The Duke of Rutland's, Duke of Grafton's, Lords Lons- 

 dale's and Fitzwilliam's, and the Quorn kennels ; but there was 

 no appearance in any of them of ostentatious display or unneces- 

 sary expenditure. TJie kennels of the Duke of Grafton and 

 Lord Fitzwilliam struck me as absolutely deficient in due accom- 

 modation for the fine packs of hounds they contained, the 

 lodging-houses being little better than those I have seen occu- 

 pied by a pack of harriers ; but the studs of horses were magni- 

 ficent, such animals as are rarely seen in the provincial countries. 

 From these kejinels, however, and a very few others, have 

 sprung the numerous packs of fox-hounds which now extend 

 through the length and breadth of the land. 



I can well remember that, in the neighbouring county of 

 Northampton, some few years since, the establishment had 

 been conducted on such a grand scale that no man could be 

 induced to take the country for some months ; in fact, one of 

 the best hunting countries in England was rea,lly going begging 

 for a master, and it was even so late as the month of November 

 before one could be found bold enough for the undertaking. It 

 is quite impossible to form any correct estimate of the expenses 

 which are incident to different hunting establishments. We all 

 know that so many couples of hounds will require so many tons 

 of oatmeal in the year, and the horses so many quarters of oats 

 and tons of hay. We can compute also wages, taxes, and other 

 necessary expenses, but when we come to the renting of coverts, 

 feeing keepers and earth-stoppers for litters of cubs bred, or 

 foxes found, poultry lost by farmers, &c., &c., we are all at sea. 

 These items alone, in some countries, would suffice to keep 

 another pack of hounds to hunt two days a week. 



Masters of hounds, taking to a country with what they con- 



