1G8 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



Bome cause or another, drew Silk Wood, where he found 

 a fox, who went away, and gave them such a run that he deter- 

 mined on fox-hunting instead of deer-hunting from that time 

 forth. Whether he went on with the same hounds, or procured 

 a fresh pack, I have never heard — prohably the former, as they 

 had done so well after the new game. Be that how it may, in 

 1770 he was hunting the home country round Badminton, as 

 well as what is now known as the Heythrop, in Oxfordsliire, 

 and, although they were fifty miles apart, divided the season 

 pretty equally between them, renting Heythrop House from 

 the Earl of Shrewsbury for the purpose. 



The first huntsman of whom we have any record was what 

 Beckford called the famous Will Crane, and this, coupled with 

 his being selected to train Mr. Smith- Barry's hounds for their 

 match against Mr. Meynell's, which match, it will be remembered, 

 they won easily, proves that he must have been a very first-rate 

 man. He had some trouble with them at first — Bluecap being 

 a four, and Wanton a three-year old — and would have preferred 

 younger hounds, as they would sooner have taken to the drags. 

 He had them at Rivenhall, in Essex, and trained them on 

 Tiptree Heath, since become famous as the scene of Mechi's 

 labours in the cause of agriculture, where he worked them three 

 days a week for two months, feeding them on oatmeal, milk, 

 and sheep's trotters. Thomas Ketch succeeded Crane at Bad- 

 minton, who hunted them until he retired from old age, and 

 his whip, Thomas Alderton, took the horn. Then came John 

 Dilworth, who also held the place until age compelled him to 

 retire. In fact, in the Beaufort kennels there is a very pleasant 

 absence of change, which shows that the House of Somerset 

 must have taken on none but good servants, and have kept them 

 when they had got them. The sixth duke came to the title in 

 1802, and followed in the footsteps of his father, until Heythrop 

 House was burnt down, when he ceased to hunt Oxfordshire, 

 and confined himself to the home country. He was known as 

 the Blue Duke — I presume from the hunt uniform being blue 



