MR. WICKSTED'S MASTERSHIP. 5 



zealous opponents in Mr. Wells and Will Staples, whose quickness and judgment 

 are above all praise. Mr. IMytton, ('apt. Owen, of Woodhouse (on the 'Devil,' 

 the property of Mr. M.), and Mr. Eyton, jiin., Leeswood, kept in front throughout 

 the day." 



1829. Sporting Magazine, vol. 74, p. ijU. 



The Sportsman'' s Cabinet contains most appreciative 

 notices of Mr. Wicksted's hounds. In the number for 

 November, 1832, the writer mentions Mr. Wicksted's 

 hounds alonir with Mr. Osbaldeston's, the Bel voir, Mr. 

 Meynell's, the Cheshire, and others as being the " fleetest 

 foxhounds" which had fallen under his notice. In the 

 number for March, 1833, appears a long and most interesting 

 account of a visit of the same correspondent to Betley in 

 the January of the year. From what he says, it would 

 appear that Mr. Wicksted's pack was of a very high 

 quality, and ranked high among the packs of that date. 

 He writes, " The dogs were about twenty -five inches in 

 height, and remarkable for bone, strength, and beautiful 

 symmetry, and that the bitches were nearly as tall, and 

 that the whole pack exhibited a levelness which he had 

 never seen excelled in any other pack." In numbers they 

 were twenty-three and a half couples. After giving other 

 details about the hounds, the writer goes on to say, 

 "Mr. Wicksted goes out five days in a fortnight. His 

 country (Staffordshire) appears to be of considerable 

 extent, and although I am not altogether a stranger to 

 it, I was not aware that it contained woodlands of one 

 thousand and one thousand five hundred acres, and these 

 woodlands, which ought to produce many cubs yearly, 

 I was sorry to find seldom held a single litter." Fox- 

 stealers abound in these parts, and Mr. Wicksted remarked 

 that if snow should fall so as to enable the fox-stealers 

 to trace, all the foxes in these (the remoter) parts of his 

 country would be taken. After mentioning many other 

 details about Betley and Mr. Wicksted's hunting establish- 

 ment, the writer goes on to give an account of a meet at 

 Wistaston on January 15, 1833. The sport on that day 

 appears to have consisted of a fast twenty-three minutes 

 from Wistaston to Crewe Park, ending with a kill. A 



