CHAPTER VI 



BECKFORD 



BECKFORD'S * Thoughts upon Hunting ' was published 

 in 1 78 1, and has a wider reputation than any other 

 work of its kind. The author was a Dorsetshire 

 squire, but not of the type of West Country squire depicted 

 by Fielding. He was well travelled and well read, and his 

 book is cultivated and amusing. A contemporary writer 

 says of him : ' Never had fox or hare the honour of being 

 chased to death by so accomplished a huntsman ; never 

 was a huntsman's dinner graced by such urbanity and wit. 

 He would bag a fox in Greek, find a hare in Latin, inspect 

 his kennels in Italian, and direct the economy of his stables 

 in excellent French.' 



His treatise upon Fox-hunting marks the early years of 

 the increased pace that first became fashionable just after 

 the middle of the eighteenth century. Such men as Meynell, 

 Musters, and Smith-Barry were the pioneers of the new system 

 of finding the Fox in his kennel at eleven o'clock and making 

 him fly or die, instead of dragging up to him in the small 

 hours of the morning. Hounds were now bred for stout- 

 ness and speed. Beckford was in favour of a Hound of the 

 middle size. * I believe,' he says, * all animals of that de- 

 scription are strongest, and best able to endure fatigue. . . . 



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