18 HUNTING TOURS. 



in former days as the Shenstone country ; but 

 its dimensions are very unimportant. The 

 extent of the Atherstone country, from North 

 to South, may be estimated at somewhere 

 about eight-and-twenty miles, including a 

 similar distance from east to west. The 

 Witherley kennels are, as nearly as possible, 

 in the centre. 



Considerable ambiguity surrounds the hunt- 

 ing arrangements of early days. The country 

 evidently was so often divided and subdivided, 

 that it is totally impossible to define dates or 

 districts. The first master of hounds of whom 

 there is any reliable authority was the Marquis 

 of Donegal, whose hunting pastimes were 

 most probably enjoyed in the neighbourhood 

 of Lichfield and Tam worth. Then followed 

 Lord Talbot, and as his lordship's hounds 

 were sold to Mr. Lambton in 1793, that event 

 affords a little insight into dates. About the 

 close of the last century Lord Vernon hunted 

 the country around Sudbury, which now forms 

 a portion of Mr. Meynell Ligram's district ; 

 his lordship also patronised the neighbour- 

 hood of Lichfield, including the wild regions 

 of Cannock Chase, where, at a period not 

 remote, grouse and game of divers kinds 



