The Sport of Our <*Ancestors 



believe that his predecessors, Lord Southampton, Mr. 

 Osbaldeston, and Sir BelHngham Graham, even exceeded 

 this measure of estabUshment. 



The price *of hounds is, perhaps, not generally known. 

 Thirty years ago Sir Richard Puleston sold his to the Duke 

 of Bedford for seven hundred, and fifteen years since, Mr. 

 Corbet's were sold to Lord Middleton for twelve hundred 

 guineas. A well-known good pack will, in these times, 

 command a thousand guineas — those of Lord Tavistock 

 (the Oakley) to Sir Harry Goodricke ; Mr. NichoU's to the 

 Earl of Kintore ; and Sir Richard Sutton's to Mr. Thomas 

 Assheton Smith, have been sold for that sum within the 

 last few years ; and those of Mr. Warde, as we have already 

 said, for double that sum. But a very few years back, 

 indeed, Mr. Osbaldeston sold ten couple of hounds for the 

 first-named sum to the late Lord Middleton ; and we have 

 reason to believe that he had hounds in his kennel for which 

 he would not have taken two hundred guineas a-piece. 

 Knowing all this, one can make every allowance for the 

 angry feeling and fears of their owners when they see the 

 chance of their being ridden over and destroyed in chace. 

 Good hounds are not easily replaced ; and it is on this account 

 that in the hard-riding countries, and where the covers are 

 small, seldom more than sixteen or seventeen couple form 

 a pack. 



The recent retirement of the Duke of Rutland from the 

 field has been felt to leave a vacuum in the hunting world. 

 Those hounds are now in the possession of a very popular 

 i6o 



