58 NOTITIA VENATICA. 



(his lordship's huntsman.) The last time I was in them Avas in 1835, 

 •when they were in the same condition in which they were in early days, 

 anything hut a convenient place for hounds. There was always a peculiar 

 appearance on the floors, as if the wet settled on the hricks ; hut it was 

 considered by Charles King (huntsman to Lord Althorp), as one of the 

 healthiest situations for hounds in the world. Jack Stevens, who also 

 used it with Mr. Osbaldeston for eight or nine seasons, told me he never 

 knew hounds do better in the whole of his experience than at Brigstock. 

 The kennels are built upon a clay, the substratum of which is marl. 

 There is a small kennel at Downside in Somersetshire, built so close to 

 a trout-stream that it actually runs through the yards upon a rock ; but 

 then the rock is of freestone and not of sandstone : this is a particularly 

 healthy place for hounds. Mr. Hall, who occupied it when I saw it, 

 declared it was equally so with his other kennel, which was far superior 

 both in size and convenience. The kennels at Butler's Marston, occu- 

 pied for many years by the Warwickshire hounds, were built upon a 

 white clay : the country near them after rain was always knee deep 

 in mud, yet no lameness Avas ever visible. The Holderness kennels at 

 Bishop Burton may also be mentioned as another instance of soundness 

 on apparently wet land : so much for situations. 



From these few instances of many, then, it may be fairly presumed 

 that the best place to build a kennel upon is a clay or strong sound 

 ground, devoid of sand veins, sandstone rocks, or springs. Build it, I 

 say, upon strong clay ground, and you will be safe ; and let not tAvo or 

 three thousand pounds be sacrificed on a heap of bricks, as was the case 

 in Thrussington in Leicestershire, where the jail-hke kennel of the late 

 Sir Harry Goodricke, costly as it Avas, proved, from its unhealthy situa- 

 tion, a perfect failure. Let the spouting and ventilating be particularly 

 attended to, and if shoulder lameness or any other disease breaks out, 

 the owner may come to a fair conclusion that there is some hidden cause 

 of the malady, of Avhich the Avriter of these pages is at present unable to 

 give an account. 



It is a fact weU known to most sportsmen, that the royal kennels on 

 Ascot-heath have been subject to this destructive disease for a great 

 number of years ; and Avhich, as was always considered, arose from the 

 nature of the soil on Avhich they Avere built. Many remedies Avere tried 

 to alleviate the sufferings of the hounds ; amongst others, the turning 

 of arclies of considerable size under the foundation of the building : but 

 the result was, that little or no amendment took place from the experi- 

 ment. The hounds not only continued to be constantly attacked, but 

 many of the servants attached to the establishment became victims to a 

 kind of paralytic aff'ection in their limbs. These circumstances became, 

 in due course of time, matter of deep consideration, and it Avas thought 

 that probably the presence of lead in the Avatcr, Avhich Avas conveyed by 

 means of leaden pipes for upAvards of a ([uartcr of a mile to the kennel, 

 might be the real cause of the calamity. The Avater was analyzed by 

 the learned and experienced Dr. Ryan, Professor in the Royal Poly- 

 technic Institution, in whose paper the foUoAving observations apj)eared : 

 " Wc apprehend that the generality of persons are aAvaro that the more 



