THE BLACKMORE VALE HOUNDS. 221 



to my father and saying abruptly, " They have 

 lost Senator." My father was talking to Mr 

 Simonds at the moment, and the latter, who had 

 walked Senator, was as much put out as the Master 

 at the thought of his loss. Some months later, 

 when Press was at the kennels of the South and 

 West Wilts, to his great delight and no small 

 astonishment he found Senator there. The hound, 

 it seemed, had joined the pack one day while 

 they were hunting, and as no one knew his 

 history he had stayed on in kennel. The 

 huntsman was naturally sorry to part with 

 such a good one, but the transfer was soon 

 effected and Senator was returned to his rightful 

 owner. 



Another hound whose influence is very marked 

 in the modern Blackmore Vale pack is Mr Muster's 

 Rufus, which was bought by Sir Kichard Glyn 

 in 1876 when four years old. Rufus was by 

 Brocklesby Royal ex Mr Muster's Singwell, and 

 though not a large hound was of the very 

 highest quality. Among the best workers in the 

 pack in 1885 was a grandson of Rufus named 

 Renown, whose sire was Lord Portsmouth's 

 Render, to which source both Sir Richard Glyn 

 and Mr Merthyr Guest so often went for new 

 blood. Renown, through his grandam Luxury 

 (1873), went back to Romulus (1864), of which 

 hound Press was wont to declare enthusiastically 

 that " he knew enough to take honours at a 

 university." 



