HUNTING TOURS. 293 



which hoimds come in the van chase, and in 

 the middle chase, and which be skirters." 

 Nothing can more clearly prove the customs 

 of those times. 



There is every probability when hounds 

 were first kept at Belvoir that the stag was 

 their game, indeed, there is evidence of this in 

 an ancient picture representing the chase of 

 that animal; and taking the date from the 

 kennel book, of which I was favoured with a 

 perusal, and in which, as already mentioned, 

 the first entry of young hounds was made in 

 the year 1756, under the impression that they 

 had been rendered steady to fox a few years 

 previously, I believe it will not be very far 

 from the actual date if assigned to a few 

 years prior to 1750. In further confirmation 

 of this, in the Brocklesby kennel book there 

 is an entry of four couples of puppies in 1750, 

 by Lord Granby's Dexter, son of Mr. Noel's 

 Victor, evidently a celebrity of his day, and it 

 is reasonable to suppose that Dexter's services 

 would not have been sought for had he not 

 proved himself worthy of distinction by three 

 or four seasons' probation in the Belvoir 

 kennels. Thus the pack would be established 

 by John, third Duke of Rutland, whose life, 



