LORD EVERGREEN 217 



straw-houses, the granaries, with all their concomitants of 

 grooms, coachmen, postilions, helpers, and the out-lying 

 kennels — out-lying, but not too distant for the mellowed notes 

 of the baying pack to fall with the sweet west wind on the 

 listener's ear as he stands at the castle gates. There is 

 nothing sets off, nothing enlivens a place like a pack of hounds. 

 Even in summer they are an object of attraction. How 

 beautiful they look in a morning, passing indolently at exercise 

 among the venerable trees and glades of the park, attended by 

 the hatted and purple-coated servants of the hunt, wearing at 

 once the stains and laurels of the bygone year. Even if a 

 great man does not hunt, still a pack of hounds is an ornament 

 and attraction to his place. There is nothing so popular as 

 keeping a pack of hounds. We must all remember the noble 

 example of the Oxford sweep, who recorded his vote for a 

 particular candidate, because, said he, " I 'unts with the 

 duke." 



That duke, however, we may add, was the Duke of 

 Beaufort, an out-and-out sportsman, one of the most popular 

 men of the day. We have been cudgelling our brains and 

 labouring at an imaginary description of a nobleman's esta- 

 blishment, whereas, if we had cast our eyes westward, we 

 should have had it all cut and dried to our hands at Bad- 

 minton. Take a lawn meet there. What could give a 

 foreigner a finer idea of the vast magnificence of an English 

 nobleman's establishment than what he would see at that fine 

 old place ? The splendid hounds, the magnificent horses, the 

 countless servants, the bountiful hospitality within and with- 

 out ; above all, the open-hearted, unaffected cordiality of the 

 noble owner. Still hound-keeping for sheer political purposes 

 would not answer. It is only when the owner is a sportsman, 

 that ■■ the fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind " principle 

 tells upon his companions in chase. Keeping hounds, in the 

 hopes of influencing votes, would be a poor speculation. It 



