NOTITIA VENATICA. 19 



such as begin to show vice in their work, and such of the puppies as are 

 too large or too small, or, in fact, are what may be considered inferior 

 to the lot which are " put forward" by the owner of the pack. The other 

 description are such hounds as may be purchased from gentlemen who 

 are either reducing their hunting establishments, or who are forming 

 one pack from two or three, of which they may have lately become pos- 

 sessed. The first arc almost invariably the perquisite of the huntsman 

 or first man in the kennel, the usual price being three guineas per 

 couple ; the proceeds arising from the sale of the second description 

 more frequently find their way into the master's pocket ; the price, of 

 course, is higher, varying from five to fifteen and twenty guineas per 

 couple ; drafts from Mr. Osbaldeston's celebrated pack, in 1830, fetched 

 twenty-five guineas per couple — that is, the twenty-five worst couples 

 out of seventy-five couples brought at his sale at Brixworth £625, a sum 

 quite unprecedented for such hounds. But the most remarkable sale of 

 hounds ever known took place at Hyde Park Corner, in 1842. The 

 lots sold were thirteen in number, making 127 hounds, exclusive of 

 whelps ; their produce was 6,511 guineas, or upwards of £100 per 

 couple. The pack that reahzed this enormous sum was Mr. Osbaldes- 

 ton's old pack, Avhich had been sold conditionally some years previous to 

 Mr. Harvey Combe : and upon Mr. Combe's relinquishing the old 

 Berkeley country, where these hounds had been hunting, they went to 

 TattersaU's, to be sold by auction. Report says it was a fictitious sale ; 

 whether it was or not, it gave employment to the "gentlemen of the 

 long robe," there being some previous agreement between Mr. Osbal- 

 dcston and Mr. Combe relative to the price the hounds might ever fetch, 

 if sold at the time when Mr. Combe chose to part with them. The late 

 Mr. Ralph Lambton's hounds were sold to Lord Suftield, in 1838, for 

 the enormous sum of 3,000 guineas ; but that pack which were ever 

 supposed to have fetched the highest bond fide price were Mr. Foljambe's, 

 whidi were sold by auction by Mr. Tattersall on April 4th, 1845, and 

 produced, for the old hounds, 2,926 guineas, and for the unentered 238 

 o-uineas ; total, 3,164 guineas. 



It is generally presumed that the more money a man gives the better 

 article he has a right to expect for his money ; and the attempt to form 

 a pack from the mere refuse of other kennels will be found to be not 

 only a most tedious imdertaking, but in the end by far the most expen- 

 sive, as so many must be purchased before a sufficient number can be 

 collected to work together in anything like a hunting style, that the 

 task would be endless. The usual draft of old hounds from the best of 

 kennels are generally nearly worn out ; and although they may be ex- 

 tremely usefid to enter the young ones with, their services can only be 

 looked for during one season. Occasionally, liouuds of the first, second, 

 and third season, are amongst the draft ; these, I fear, may be consi- 

 dered invariably to be drafted either for vice, lameness, or weakness of 

 constitution ; sometimes those put away for lameness in the stifle-joint 



the pack are continually traversing, their feet are not unfrequently quite spoilt and 

 worn out after three or four seasons' work. 



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