^Nimrod ' 



The following sketch of honest Old Tom is copied 

 from a late number of the Northampton Herald^ with a few 

 additional particulars by the friend who has kindly for- 

 warded it to us, and who had long known him, and was able 

 to appreciate his character. It is but an imperfect sketch, 

 he observes, and hardly does Old Tom justice : — 



' Poor Tom has at length gone to the place where all things are 

 forgotten. For many years have I known him well, and safely can 

 I aver that a more honest and worthy man never sat on a saddle, 

 or ever cheered a hound. He had been from his infancy in the 

 family of the Duke of Grafton. It is related of him, that Joe Smith, 

 who had the care of the old Duke's hounds, whilst hunting one day 

 at Staen, near Brackley, heard a boy hallooing crows, and was so 

 pleased with his voice, that he took him into the stable. Be that 

 as it may, he hunted the Grafton pack for nearly half a century. 

 As it is much easier to pick a hole than mend one, so many, who 

 were unacquainted with the nature of the country, used ofttimes 

 to be not very scrupulous in their remarks as to his management. 

 No one knew what hounds ought to be better than Tom ; but as 

 he frequently used to say, " a man must breed his pack to suit his 

 country." His hounds were supposed to be wild, and to have too 

 much fly in them ; or, according to his phrase, " a leetle in a hurry." 

 They certainly were so in a degree ; but, in the ungovernable wood- 

 lands he had to hunt, how many foxes would he have caught had 

 he not lifted them and thrown them in at head, with a bad fox ? 

 One fox would have lasted him a season. This system, doubtless, 

 would make them wild in the open, but in a woodland country 

 what other system is to be pursued ? Knowing that they had a 

 good deal of fling in them, Tom could not bear the sight of a red 

 coat. The Pytchley wild-boys, who were ever for a scurry in 

 the morning, used to indulge Tom with their company whenever 

 they met in the open, and not being accustomed (when at home) 

 to give them " much room," used to drive them over it most un- 



