130 HUNTING TOURS. 



strictest attention to the welfare of the fox 

 family is of the utmost importance. 



The first master of hounds in this country 

 of whom tradition speaks was the Hon. Mr. 

 Noel, who must have been a master of hounds 

 as early as the middle of the eighteenth 

 century. My authority for this is an entry 

 in the kennel book at Belvoir, dated 1756, of 

 the services of Mr. Noel's Victor ; he hunted 

 most of the Harborough country and all the 

 woods between Stamford and Peterborough, 

 now in the Milton country, having a place at 

 Walcot Park, where the hounds went for a 

 month alternately with Cottesmore. There 

 \vas in those days a huntsman named Abbey, 

 whose traditionary fame has descended to 

 veterans still living. The successor of Mr. 

 Noel was Sir William Lowther, when the 

 pack was kennelled at Stocken Hall, and the 

 celebrated Philip Payne was his huntsman. 

 Sir William, it appears, commenced in 1 788, 

 as Payne was in his service twelve years prior 

 to a two seasons' engagement in Cheshire, 

 and it is well known that veteran huntsman 

 entered the service of the Duke of Beaufort 

 in the second year of the present century. 

 The customs of these kennels were then 



