

SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 221 



Bramshill, who possessed a pack neither resembling 

 Mr. Ward's nor Mr. Villebois', but between the 

 two. We should not have called them very close 

 hunters, or gifted with very extraordinary nasal 

 qualifications, but they were remarkably quick in 

 their work, and committed havoc amongst the 

 foxes. At Bramshill we were shown a long old- 

 fashioned oak chest, standing in the picture gallery, 

 where it is said the Lady Lovel was suffocated, 

 when playfully hiding from her lord, as related in 

 the song under the title of " The Mistletoe Bough." 

 When lifting the lid a shudder crept over us, to 

 think that one so young and fair should have met 

 with such a dreadful fate. 



At that time the Vine hounds, kept by Mr. 

 Chute, were in the zenith of their power, quite the 

 multum in parvo sort, low on the leg, with plenty 

 of bone and muscle, and so distinguished for their 

 performances in the field, as well as ancient descent 

 from very old blood, that even Mr. Ward did not 

 hesitate occasionally breeding from them ; and later, 

 Mr. Assheton Smith showed us a hound, Radical, 

 which he obtained from the Vine kennel, the most 

 powerful and clever dog we have ever seen for his 

 inches. These hounds, accustomed to a rough 

 country, would, as a matter of course, if taken 

 into a good scenting one, with grass instead of 

 flinty fallows beneath their feet, acquit themselves 

 most creditably, although for the shires a larger 

 kind of hound has been found better able to con- 

 tend with the obstructions of stiff fences and 

 heavier land, where little hounds and little horses 



