THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



he found opposition useless, endeavoured to modify or miti- 

 gate the results of what, from his standpoint, was something of 

 a disaster. We know now that he was right, and that reform 

 broke the power of the great landlords, and gave it to the 

 middle classes, who, having no genius for politics, have been 

 in their turn displaced by the working-class voter. Thus 

 other interests and anxieties drew the Duke more into the 

 whirl of politics and away from sport. 



Small events and great are thus inextricably connected in 

 the infinitely complex web of life, and the Reform Bill in- 

 directly affected the development of the Belvoir pack, as it 

 has since affected the sport itself by the diffusion of wealth 

 among men of very varied birth, but who, being Englishmen, 

 all have the love of sport implanted in them. 



The Brocklesby cross with the Belvoir was a success, for 

 the former hounds were, so to speak, thoroughbred, and might 

 be trusted to breed true to a type. The Smiths had followed 

 that principle in breeding hounds which was also followed at 

 Belvoir, never to use hounds of the quality of whose blood 

 they were not sure, and showing a preference for those which 

 had originally sprung from their own stock. With but few, 

 if any, exceptions, we find this plan uniformly followed at 

 Belvoir. For it will be noted in the following lists that in 

 most cases the outcross from these kennels is obtained by 

 going to the packs which had already some Belvoir or 

 Brocklesby blood in their veins. The result of this policy 

 has been to raise these two packs to undisputed pre-eminence 

 among the kennels of the United Kingdom; the Belvoir 

 having their unrivalled quality, and the Brocklesby their size, 

 substance, and tongue. 



In the matter of size, the standard of the Brocklesby dog 

 pack, when I saw Lord Lonsdale hunting them in the Quorn 

 country in 1895-96, was certainly above that of the Belvoir, 

 and to the strong infusion of Brocklesby blood may be 

 attributed the tendency noted by some masters, even in the 

 present day, of the offspring of Belvoir sires to be larger than 

 their parents. Of course, the extraordinary advantages 

 possessed by the Belvoir have enabled them to get the pack 



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