THE HISTORY OF THE BEL VOIR HUNT 



blood, and William Shore, his Grace's huntsman, has evi- 

 dently given very careful thought to the pack. He, too, has 

 great liking for Weathergage. The Fife follow, as their 

 huntsman tells me, the same lines of blood as the Duke of 

 Buccleuch, drawing the best of their sires from that kennel. 



Lord Longford tells me, " We have had Holderness hounds 

 here on three occasions, all full of Belvoir blood (descendants 

 of Gambler) " — here is the Weathergage strain again — " and 

 they have proved of great use to us. We have one now. 

 Assheton Biddulph, of the King's County, has always been 

 very glad to send bitches to them. Matthews likes the blood." 

 The carefully compiled hound list Matthews sent me does not 

 indeed show any predominance of Belvoir blood, though it is 

 of course impossible to get away from it. 



Even in Wales and Devonshire, and in Hampshire, the 

 three districts where the Belvoir has had least influence, there 

 are a good many indirect derivative strains, and I take this 

 to be nearly universal. 



But I have given instances enough to show that the weight 

 of opinion of the best huntsmen of our day is in favour of 

 Belvoir, and that with Weathergage that celebrated pack 

 culminated as it were. It matters not whether the country 

 be grass or plough, cold-scenting, stony hills, or deep, forbid- 

 ding woodlands, there the race of Belvoir drives along after 

 the fox, and puzzles out his wiles like beagles, and rings his 

 death-knell with the music of the Wonder — Susan clan. 

 Everywhere, in the power of transmitting their stoutness, 

 their soundness of constitution, their rare shape and swiftness, 

 the Belvoir hounds are the greatest triumphs of breeding. 

 We have seen how the ability of the owners and their ser- 

 vants, the variety of the country they hunt over, and the 

 stoutness of the foxes have combined to bring about such a 

 result of the skill and thoughtfulness of the breeder as the 

 Belvoir fox-hound. 



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