18 NOTITIA VENATICA. 



three slackened in their pace just at the last ; one horse only went the 

 whole of It. Mr. Meynel's natural taste led him to admire large hounds, 

 but his experience convinced him that small ones were generally the 

 stoutest, soundest, and in every respect the most executive. Various 

 are the attentions necessary to manage a pack of hounds, and quite 

 sufficient to engage the occupation of an active man's mind. 



Should the master of the hounds have other important concerns to 

 call his attention off, sensible and confidential agents and servants 

 should be chosen in every department. Fox-hunting is a manly and 

 fine exercise, aftording health to the body, and matter and food for a 

 contemplative mind ; in no situation are the facidties of man more dis- 

 played ; fortitude, good sense, and collectiveness of mind have a wide 

 field for exercise, and a sensible sportsman would be a i-espectable cha- 

 racter in any situation of life. The field is a most agreeable coffee-house, 

 and there is more real society to be met with there than in any other 

 situation in life ; it links all classes together, from the peer to the 

 peasant ; it is the Englishman's pecidiar privilege ; it is not to be 

 found in any other part of the globe but in England's true land of hberty, 

 and may it flourish to tlie end of time ! 



So much for " the Meynellian science," or fox-hunting upon system ; 

 and although, without doubt, hounds, and horses too, go a bit faster 

 than they did in those days, still the system is good in the main. There 

 are some features in it proved to have been founded on error, all of which 

 I shall speak of in their proper places, others hold good to the present 

 day ; however, I shall give them all a tui-n in the course of my progress 

 through the work. 



If a person wishes to become possessed of a pack of hounds, no doubt, 

 as has been advised by Mr. Beckford, Colonel Cooke, ami other writers 

 on the subject, the most approved plan is to purchase one which has 

 been some years established ; by these means he Avill be able to com- 

 mand a greater share of success from the commencement of his career, 

 than by going through the whole routine and drudgery of making a 

 pack from drafts, of the anxiety and trouble of which undertaking no one 

 can have an idea, unless he may himself have been a labourer in that 

 vineyard. To those upon whom the fickle goddess has less liberally 

 showered her benefits, the more laborious path must be pursued ; which, 

 nevertheless, in the end is far more satisfactory to a real and zealous 

 sportsman. I have heard it remarked by several most excellent judges 

 of hunting, and amongst them by the late Mr. J. Villebois, and also by 

 Mr. Osbaldeston, who was certainly a most successful breeder of hounds 

 in his day, that no man could breed a pack of hounds from drafts under 

 eight years ; and if he even succeeded to form a good one in so short a 

 time, he woidd be considered a most fortunate person. In speaking of 

 draft hounds, the reader must understand that there are two sorts, the 

 one comprised of those which are drafted annually from estabhshed ken- 

 nels, consisting, generally speaking, of those which arc nearly worn out,* 



* In some countries hounds are worn out much sooner than in others ; in Hamp- 

 shire, Berkshire, and part of Wiltshire, owing to the immense beds of flints which 



