HUNTING TOUKS. 109 



this season. They are drawn for their work 

 in two packs, according to size, mixed in 

 either case, but there is very little disparity ; 

 the average height is about 23 inches, and, 

 judging by the eye, I do not think there are 

 three inches between the loftiest of the dog- 

 hounds and the lowest of the other sex. 



The kennels, which are on the outskirts of 

 the town, on the right of the road leading to 

 Prestbury, are the same which Earl Fitz- 

 hardinge occupied the alternate months for 

 many years. Without any ostentatious dis- 

 play of architecture they are sufficient for the 

 purpose, and what is of the greatest impor- 

 tance, they are sound. The stables adjoin, 

 and contain twenty-two very superior horses 

 for the use of the men, ten of which are 

 devoted to the huntsman, who has always a 

 second horse out. Mr. Colmore's hunters, 

 seven or eight in number, are kept at his pri- 

 vate stables, near his residence. Through the 

 extreme kindness of Mr. Colmore, who most 

 obligingly offered me a mount — a favour for 

 which I feel deeply indebted — I was enabled 

 to see his hounds in work one day last month, 

 when they met at Withington, seven miles 

 from Cheltenham. Absence from a country 



