330 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



hounds had not much to say to it. I have also 

 been informed that when Mr. Osbaldeston hunted 

 the Burton country his hounds were not dis- 

 tinguished for their cry. This was long before 

 the days of Peterborough. With respect to light- 

 ness of tongue, and speaking for the hounds with 

 which I have hunted a good deal, in every instance 

 I have found a great improvement in " cry " in 

 the last twenty years. It is, however, an acknow- 

 ledged difficulty to keep the " cry " in a pack. 

 That the foxhound is a very inbred animal is an 

 admitted fact, and whether it is on that account, 

 or that it is a reversion to some prepotent ancestor 

 used as a cross, of which no record remains, it is 

 impossible to say. But the fact remains, and it is 

 a difficulty which besets every huntsman in breed- 

 ing, and it seems scarcely necessary to insist that 

 in woodland countries, and there is a great deal of 

 woodland in most of the hunting countries, cry is 

 a thing which huntsmen cannot do without. 



So much for the objections ; now let us look on 

 the other side of the picture and see what hound 

 shows have done for us. The hound show — there 

 have been occasional shows of hounds, but there is 

 only one hound show recognised by hunting men 

 — was originated by Mr. Thomas Parrington in 

 1859 in connection with the Cleveland Agricultural 

 Society, and was held in connection with that show 

 till 1864, when it was held at the same time as 

 the great Yorkshire show. During the time Mr. 

 Parrington held the Secretaryship of the Yorkshire 

 Agricultural Society the hound show continued to 

 be a movable feast held in connection with the 

 Yorkshire Show, and when in 1877 Mr. Thomas 

 Parrington retired, Mr. Barford got the show to 



