230 HUNTING TOURS. 



An opinion very generally prevails that 

 the hounds of olden times were more noted 

 for their hunting powers than those of the 

 present generation; that foxes were stouter 

 and wilder, and that the runs they afforded 

 were of longer duration. Jones's diary, giving 

 accounts of all the sport during the time it 

 comprises, does not confirm such conclusions. 

 In provincial districts, where game is abun- 

 dant, it is possible that foxes were formerly 

 wilder, therefore stouter, than now; but in 

 the Quorn country, during the last ten years 

 of Mr. Meynell's mastership they were fre- 

 quently * rolled over in five-and-twenty or 

 thirty minutes, and their propensities for 

 running short were often noticed ; it is quite 

 evident the whippers-in resorted to a little 

 telegraphing when in difficulties. It has 

 been asserted, too — an error into which I 

 must admit having myself fallen by adopting 

 current information which was incorrect — 

 that it was the custom occasionally to take 

 as many as one hundred couples of hounds 

 into^ the field. The largest number of hounds 

 specified by Jones as having been taken out 

 at one time, was fifty couples, which hap- 

 pened on the 6th of September, 1798, when 



