332 The Hunting Countries of England. 



sion lias been obtained from tlie Grove. Smart level 

 bounds^ tbey are built for work^ yet with every advan- 

 tage of appearance. The kennels also^ as with every- 

 thing else connected with the establishment at home 

 and in the field, are neat and businesslike ; and the 

 hounds are there seen amid surroundings not only 

 more picturesque but infinitely more pleasing to the 

 various senses than is usually the case — the kennel 

 buildings standing on a sunny, wood-girt, and turf- 

 laid slope behind the Castle. Truly for sport in most 

 thorough form, and for the benefit of his friends, 

 neighbours, and county, does Lord Portsmouth main- 

 tain his pack — the cost and trouble being alike his 

 own. 



In common with all Devonshire, Lord Portsmouth's 

 is a famous scenting country ; and, in common with 

 most of the rest, it seldom allows of riding to hounds. 

 Did it not carry a good scent, the best of hounds would 

 seldom kill a fox ; for there is little chance of helping 

 them at a difficulty. As it is, there is little opportu- 

 nity for over-riding them, and they seldom meet with 

 a difficulty that they cannot overcome of themselves. 

 Yet it was in the west, or Hatherleigh side of the 

 country that in the season 1878-79 they never lost a 

 fox — and this is the district that has been termed ^^the 

 Leicestershire of the West,'' the one part where men 

 fond of riding can disport themseves. For the banks 

 are here built of a size within the compass of a horse's 

 powers; and the South-Western Railway never fails to 

 bring a cargo of aspiring spirits to take advantage of 

 a meet in this neighbourhood. A stiff clay soil is not 

 the most elastic material to jump off ; and an occa- 



