The Teclworth. 281 



pockets of Masters quite five per cent, beyond ordinary 

 estimate, in reference to number of couple in Kennel. 

 And now for a point of heresy — The truest and most 

 cat-like feet are not those that wear best over this 

 razor-strewn wold. A flatter — and consequently less 

 orthodox — foot stands more work than one fashioned 

 on the accepted model. A greater surface, and more 

 elasticity, is required ; and the inferior shape will last 

 longer than the pattern mould. Cuts will inevitably 

 come. And on the small rounded sole they inevitably 

 come nearer, and sharper, to the supporting ligaments 

 — while at the same time the rigid conformation from 

 shoulder to foot, insisted upon by our leading judges, 

 precludes a light footfall to save the shock and ease 

 the cut. Without venturing to impugn their judg- 

 ment, I would urge that a point must in practice be 

 stretched for this special field. 



The Kennels at Tedworth Park are the property of, 

 and lent by. Sir John Kelk, without whose assistance 

 the Hunt would last year have probably fallen to the 

 ground. They were originally built by Mr. Assheton 

 Smith ; and the hounds presented to the Country in 

 1858 by his widow. In any notice of the Tedworth 

 it would be impossible to avoid allusion to that prince 

 of hard riders, who, after a notable career in Leicester- 

 shire, returned to Hants to raise the local Hunt to an 

 eminence that was never aimed at before, and to 

 spend a sporting old age where he could still gallop 

 to his own hounds. The reflection of age having 

 come over him may, or may not, have influenced 

 Assheton Smith, who, as a sexagenarian, was a bolder 

 and stronger man than most of us at forty — but there 



