NOTITIA VENATICA. 57 



need hardly be said that it was of no avail. If good stiff clay had 

 been rammed down, the result might have been dilfcrent ; the situa- 

 tion was upon a sandstone rock. The hounds continued to show lame- 

 ness for several years, when Sir Thomas Boughey, Bart., purchased 

 the pack, and a removal to a fresh and healthier kennel put a stop to 

 the increase of the disease, although many which had been long lame 

 never recovered. Some years since Mr. Foljambe, built a new kennel for 

 his hounds upon a dry sandy situation at Beilby ;* they became lame ; 

 many remedies were tried, even the changing the aspect of the courts, 

 but without any beneficial consequences. In a conversation I had with 

 Mr. Foljambe upon the subject in the autumn of 1840, he told me that 

 he was thoroughly convinced that the situation was the sole cause of 

 kennel lameness existing in hounds : his were invariably afflicted with 

 the malady if they remained at Beilby after the damps of autumn came 

 on ; but by being removed to his hunting kennel five miles distant from 

 that place, they were prevented from being attacked by this dreadful 

 complaint. To such an extent has this rheumatic aftcction shown itself 

 during some seasons at the Beilby kennels, that the bitches heavy with 

 whelp, when running at large, have been grievously attacked, and 

 even puppies when only a month or six weeks old have been completely 

 distorted in their limbs, and consequently destroyed. Tbe late Lord 

 Kintore's hounds were martyrs to this curse on hound-flesh for a long 

 period ; and his Lordship, after fighting against it for ten years, was 

 fully convinced that the situation of his kennel at Gask was tbe only 

 cause for the existence of kennel lameness in his pack. I could enume- 

 rate many kennels subject to this dreadful calamity, even where they 

 are situated upon healthy-looking spots of ground ; and I coidd also 

 mention some instances where they are to all appearance damp, but 

 which are, at the same time, free from all sorts of diseases. It is truly 

 disgusting to see what make-shift places some masters of hounds are 

 content with by way of kennels, where the floors, not even covered with 

 bricks, are allowed to remain saturated Avith filth and urine. 



I always make it a rule, when travelling, to visit all kennels contigu- 

 ous to my line of march, whether in England or on the continent, and 

 during these inspections I have sometimes witnessed extraordinary 

 scenes, both at home and abroad. Sheep, and even pigs, are placed in 

 some kennels during the time the hounds are absent for a few weeks, by 

 way of keeping them well aired and sweet ; but what beat everything I 

 ever saw, by way of making the moat of an enclosure, was at the Duke 

 of Nassau's kennel on the Rhine, where ten or twelve hives of bees 

 were kept in the yard amongst a large collection of deer-hounds, 

 pointers, and other dogs. The attendant informed me that the bees 

 seldom stung their companions ; I have no doubt that they kept at a 

 respectful distance, verifying the old adage about " burnt bairns." 



Many of my readers will, I dare say, remember the old Woodland 

 kennels at Brigstock in Northamptonshire, built under the direction of 

 the fatlier of the late Lord Spencer, by the celebrated Dick Knight 



* The kennels were formed from the rooms of the old mansion-house. 



