THE GOOD DUKE 



of the size and colour they wish, since with from sixty to one 

 hundred couples of puppies it has been possible to draft down 

 to any extent, and for very small faults. During these years we 

 find the name of Osbaldeston constantly cropping up in the 

 history of the Belvoir. The " squire," as he was called by 

 his friends, was a very careful and thoughtful hound-breeder. 

 His pack both gave to and received blood from the Belvoir, 

 but his original sources of blood for the pack with which he 

 was at this time hunting the Quorn, were the Pytchley, Lord 

 Monson and Lord Vernon's hounds. Thus we imagine that 

 the Belvoir got another infusion of the black-and-tan colour- 

 ing from Mr. Osbaldeston. 



But one of the greatest glories of Belvoir is that it should 

 have given to the Quorn the celebrated Furrier, who, putting 

 aside the fact that he was not quite straight in front, was 

 as good a fox-hound as ever lived. It is only necessary here 

 to advert in passing to the fact that so fond was Mr. Osbalde- 

 ston of Furrier, that one Kirby Gate Monday he took into 

 the field a pack of twenty couples, all of Furrier blood. The 

 young hounds took after their sire, a very hard-running sort. 

 " He was a very black and white hound, very stout, and a 

 hard runner, but not a great line hunter."^ This famous 

 hound was by Belvoir Saladin, which was used a good deal 

 in Newman's time in the Belvoir kennel. So Tarquin, a 

 plain, ill-tempered hound, was descended from Belvoir Top- 

 per, one of the only two home-bred hounds used in 1 809 ; 

 another being the famous Traveller, the hound that made so 

 great a name for himself on the day when " the Duke fixed at 

 Waltham to meet," of which a record in prose and verse has 

 already been given. Tarquin had a lovely tongue, a quality, 

 as we have seen, not too frequent in Mr. Osbaldeston's kennel, 

 and was a very sure finder. Like Furrier, and many other 

 good hounds before and since, Tarquin entered late. In 1824 

 the Belvoir sought the assistance of Mr. Osbaldeston's Vaulter 

 to found a family of line hunters. Vaulter was a hound with 

 a wonderful nose, a real huntsman's friend. In fact, there 

 was a continual interchange of blood between Mr. Osbalde- 



^ Silk and Scarlet^ p. 359. 



129 K 



