THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



ing out the muteness from a pack which is well known to 

 have attained the greatest excellence, the estimation in 

 which these hounds were held being shown by the fact that, 

 at Mr. Drake's sale, four couples fetched two hundred and 

 twenty guineas. A kennel against which Goosey is said to 

 have had a prejudice was the Grove, though why is not 

 recorded, since from the facts which Mr. Foljambe collects in 

 the following letter we should infer that his kennel was 

 chiefly made up of strains of blood of which the origin was 

 one of the tap roots of the Belvoir kennel, by Lord Monson's, 

 through Mr. Osbaldeston's kennels. I give the letter in 

 full :— 



" OSBERTON, April I \th, 1841. 

 " My dear Sir, — 



" In answer to your inquiries about the descent of my 

 hounds, I beg to inform you that I purchased the pack of 

 Richard, sixth Earl of Scarbrough, in 1822, when, by reason 

 of his advancing years and infirmities, he found himself no 

 longer able to devote his attention to the management of his 

 hounds. At the time of the transfer of the pack to me they 

 were kept at Sandbeck Park, and hunted the same country 

 that is now in my occupation ; but previous to Lord Scar- 

 brough's succeeding to his title he had, as Mr. Lumley 

 Savile, kept his hounds at Rufford Abbey, in Notts, and 

 hunted what is called the Rufford country, which lies to the 

 south and immediately joins this. But upon the death of 

 his elder brother (the fifth Earl) he was obliged to give up 

 Rufford and its accompanying estates to his next brother, the 

 Honourable and Reverend John Lumley, and withdrew his 

 pack to Sandbeck, having, previous to 181 1, kept his hounds at 

 Rufford many years ; and I believe the pack were previously 

 in the possession both of his father and of Sir George Savile 

 (his maternal uncle). Upon Richard, Lord Scarbrough, 

 removing his pack to Sandbeck, the successor to Rufford (his 

 next brother above mentioned) established a pack at Rufford, 

 which he also continued both as the Honourable and Rever- 

 end John Lumley Savile and afterwards as seventh Earl 

 Scarbrough^ when it was decided by law that he had a right to 



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