THE BROCKLESBY. 89 



the confederates must have had to hunt over, for the wolds 

 were at that time, for the most part, unbroken ; and I have 

 heard that, where all is now fenced and enclosed, at that time there 

 were not more than three fences in the country. This perhaps 

 is a little exaggeration, but no doubt they were few and far 

 between. By the way, from what is said in that agreement, it 

 is very evident that fox-hounds were kept before that time, and 

 I know records are extant now of the hounds in the Brocklesby 

 kennel as early as 1710. The pack, after the amalgamation, 

 only consisted of sixteen couple of hounds and three horses, 

 with a huntsman and a boy ; and I have very little doubt that 

 at the expiration of the five years the whole concern reverted 

 to the hands of Mr. Pelham. In 1746 a regular list of puppies 

 sent to walk was kept, with the names of those who took them 

 in, and this list I have seen at the huntsman's house. The 

 first Lord Tarborough, we read, kept the kennel stud-book in 

 his own handwriting. In " Country Quarters," in " Baily's 

 Magazine" for February, 1871,1 wrote the following account 

 of the Brocklesby : — 



" There is little doubt but these hounds have been kept as a 

 pack in the Pelham family for quite a hundred and fifty years. 

 Moreover, the Smith family have hunted them for almost as 

 long a period, the office descending from father to son without 

 any intermission, one of them (Will Smith) being killed by a 

 fall at a trumpery little fence in the year 1845 ; and at the place 

 where he fell a tablet has been erected by Mr. JN'ainby of 

 Bartnaby-le-AYold, to whose house he was taken after the 

 accident." 



A first-rate sportsman, who knew Will Smith and the 

 Brocklesby country, thus writes concerning him : — 



" The palmy days of the Brocklesby country were in the 

 grandfather's day to the commencement of the late earl. Mr. 

 W. Smith was huntsman, and the man to whom the hounds 

 owe their renown and fame. He was an excellent servant in 

 the field and the kennel. WeU did he know how to breed, 



