120 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



loosely built, and splayfooted hound of former generations 

 had been left behind. To such perfection, indeed, had the 

 Foxhound attained, that long before the close of the eighteenth 

 century sportsmen were clamouring as to what a Foxhound 

 could do. 



With so much prominence given to the Foxhound in the 

 comparatively short period of forty or fifty years, it is no 

 wonder that individual hounds became very celebrated in 

 almost every part of the country. Mr. Pelham's Rockwood 

 Tickler and Bumper were names well known in Yorkshire, and 

 Lord Ludlow's Powerful and Growler were talked of both in 

 Lincolnshire and Warwickshire. From the first, indeed, it 

 appeared that certain hounds were very much better than 

 others, and old huntsmen have generally declared for one 

 which was in the whole length of their careers (sometimes 

 extending to fifty years) immeasurably superior to all others 

 they had hunted. Harry Ayris, who was for just half a 

 century with Lord FitzHardinge, declared to the day of his 

 death that nothing had equalled Cromwell ; Osbaldeston said 

 the same of Furrier, and Frank Gillard never falters from the 

 opinion that Weathergage was quite by himself as the best 

 hound he ever hunted. The Foxhound Kennel Stud Book 

 abounds in the strongest proofs that hereditary merit in their 

 work has been transmitted from these wonderful hounds, 

 and they really make the history of the Foxhound. 



There have been many great hounds ; but there must be 

 the greatest of the great, and the following twelve 

 hounds are probably the best England has ever seen : 

 Mr. Corbet's Trojan (1780), Lord Middle ton's Vanguard 

 (1815), Mr.Osbaldeston's Furrier (1820), Lord Henry Bentinck's 

 Contest (1848), Lord FitzHardinge's Cromwell (1855), Mr. 

 Drake's Duster (1844), Sir Richard Sutton's Dryden (1849), 

 the Duke of Rutland's Senator (1862), Duke of Rutland's 

 Weathergage (1874), the Earl of Coventry's Rambler (1874), 

 Mr. E. P. Rawnsley's Freeman (1884), and the Graf ton 

 Woodman (1892). 



