THE BUILDERS OF BELVOIR 



efforts to bring the pack to perfection. The Belvoir puppies 

 were sent out not merely to the farmers in the country, but to 

 many on the Duke's Derbyshire estates. With such a choice 

 the huntsman was able to put back hounds for minor defects 

 that would not have been regarded in less fortunate establish- 

 ments. This circumstance tended greatly to the superiority 

 of the pack. The Belvoir draft became known for its 

 excellence, and was sought after eagerly by masters and 

 huntsmen of known skill in hound-breeding. In this way 

 Belvoir blood was widely spread, and the home kennel was 

 able to look for an occasional out-cross to other packs in 

 which their own blood existed, and which came back to 

 them sufficiently infused with a foreign strain to prevent loss 

 of bone, substance and tongue by too close in-breeding. It 

 is well known that Mr. Osbaldeston's celebrated Furrier came 

 to him in a draft from Belvoir. This afterwards famous 

 hound had been rejected because he did not come up to the 

 mark in the matter of straightness, and the squire would 

 never let his visitors take a front view of him in consequence. 

 But so excellent was he in his work that his blood was 

 sought for by the Belvoir, and it now runs in the most valu- 

 able strains in that kennel. 



An eventful season for sport was that of 1821-22. Goosey 

 started with a strong pack of fifty-eight couples. The pack 

 he took out was largely a home-bred one, with a slight in- 

 fusion of Lord Lonsdale's blood, whose hounds were noted 

 for their size and bone and the depth and beauty of their 

 tongues. It was about this time that the Cottesmore hounds 

 are said to have been considered slow by the Meltonians. 

 Nevertheless they showed good sport and had great hunting 

 powers ; but their huntsman, George Slack, noted for his 

 beautiful voice in covert, was probably one of the older and 

 more patient school, as was his master, the first Earl of 

 Lonsdale. As Mr. Forester and Lord Alvanley used to hunt 

 with these hounds, I have no doubt they were followed by 

 many others. The newer style of hunting was adopted with 

 the Cottesmore some years later, when Colonel Lowther, 

 grandfather of the present Earl, the late well-known master 



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