The Sport of Our (^Ancestors 



Duke of Beaufort and his foxhounds, appeared in a late 

 number of the * New Sporting Magazine,^ from the pen of 

 * Nimrod ' : — 



* Yet it is as a master of foxhounds, that it is within my province 

 to speak of the late Duke of Beaufort ; and, from the many years' 

 experience I had of His Grace in the field, I feel myself in some 

 measure competent to the task. I need scarcely say I was always 

 an admirer of his hounds, although I could not like his country. 

 The gradual improvement I saw in the former, in defiance of all 

 the disadvantages of the latter, convinced me that there was a system 

 at work highly worthy of my consideration — a directing hand some- 

 where which must eventually lead to perfection. But whence this 

 directing hand I was for a long time unable to discover. I doubted 

 it being that of the Duke, not from a mistrust of his capacity, but 

 because I had reason to believe the numerous avocations of his 

 station prevented his attending to the minutiae of a kennel ; although 

 I did not consider His Grace a sportsman of the very first class, in 

 which his hounds certainly stood. I doubted it being that of Philip 

 Payne, his huntsman, for, to appearance, a duller bit of clay was 

 never moulded by Nature. But we should not judge from appear- 

 ances, and I lived to confess my error. There was about Philip a 

 steady observance of circumstances, which, increasing with the ex- 

 perience of their results, was more useful to him, as a breeder of 

 foxhounds, than the learning and talent of a Porson. His observa- 

 tion alone taught him that in seeking to produce excellence in 

 animals, we have the best prospect of success in the election of those 

 to breed from which have individually exhibited the peculiar qualities 

 we require from them. Having availed ourselves of those in a 

 kennel, a combination of strength and symmetry — which we call 

 beauty — produces the perfect hound ; at least as nearly so as the 

 somewhat imperfect law of nature will allow of.' 



Persons, who are not sportsmen, may be at a loss to 

 estimate the annual expenses of a pack of foxhounds, hunting 



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