THE LONG MINORITY 



quick and dashing, is not flighty, and who has won the confi- 

 dence of his hounds. If, indeed, when he lifts hounds, they 

 come readily to him, the huntsman can probably do so with 

 safety ; but if they come with reluctance, or have to be 

 driven to him by whippers-in, he would show more sport by 

 leaving them alone. The Milton were good hounds, though 

 heavier and thicker, and perhaps we might say coarser, than 

 would be approved to-day. But, at all events, Mr. Perceval 

 and Newman seemed to get what they wanted from them, 

 though they did not recur to the sort again. For in the year 

 1800 they turned to the Beaufort blood, and practically used 

 no other till master and man retired to make way for the 

 young Duke and Shaw. Up to this time they had been try- 

 ing for bone and drive, and there is reason to suppose they 

 had succeeded. Now they needed tongue and steadiness on 

 the line, the latter a quality for which, as we know, the Bad- 

 minton hounds have ever been noted. At that time their 

 music was renowned, and we find other packs turning to 

 them somewhat later, when the prevalence of Osbaldeston 

 blood had introduced that chariness of tongue into the 

 kennels of England which is still constantly cropping up, 

 and which threatens, in spite of periodical lamentations 

 over the lost melody, to become a characteristic of the 

 modern fox-hound. The Beaufort hounds at the beginning 

 of the century were somewhat coarse, with many signs, 

 according to the Druid, of their Talbot origin. Mr. Hor- 

 lock, however, who hunted a part of what is now the 

 Badminton country, considered that in his time the pack 

 showed considerable signs of descent from the northern 

 hound. They stood about twenty-five inches, had great 

 power, and were " rather long in their coats," 



The fifth Duke of Beaufort was uncle to the young Duke 

 of Rutland, and his advice and that of his huntsman, of 

 whom Beckford speaks as the celebrated Will Crane, was no 

 doubt sought by the young master of the Belvoir. The Mar- 

 quis of Worcester, the father of the present Duke,^ was some- 



' The eighth Duke of Beaufort died while this work was passing 

 through the press. 



81 G 



