100 THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOUNDS. 



the ]Marquis of Stafford has reduced his standard from the hounds of Mr. Daven- 

 port's time, and, although twenty-three-inch hounds may be easily kept to that 

 standard, they cannot be brought to it in a gi-eat hurry. The building up of a 

 pack is a matter of time, and I should say that the North Stafford jjack has 

 iirrived at a stage of very great excellence. It is now believed on all sides that 

 little hounds are much better for the country than big ones, and, as powerfullj'- 

 built as these hounds are, they would about do for any countr\'. It must be a 

 great pleasure to the Marquis of Stafford to breed them, also on pedigree lines, 

 as his lordship can hit back to many sorts that are not very plentiful, but still 

 existing in many kennels; as, for instance, he could get at Sir Tatton Sykes's old 

 Yorkshire sort, which is easily traced through a hound I have mentioned above, 

 called Chanticleer, by going to the Grafton or the Oakley ; and it seems possible 

 tliat hitting to Mr. Drake's Hector line, brought in as far back as 1840, in 

 Joe Maiden's time, was productive of some good, when that blood to be found in 

 tlie kennel in 1872 was crossed into exactly the same line by a draft hound from 

 the Fitzwilliam, called Fugleman, as the latter's son, Falstaff, entered in 1876, 

 Dickins thinks is the best stallion hound the Marquis of Stafford has ever bred. 

 Fugleman was by the Fitzwilliam Forester, out of their Baj'leaf ; and if the 

 last-named bitch's pedigree is examined it will be found that she goes back to 

 Hardwick, by the Drake Hector. It is in this way that foxhound-breeding has 

 ]irogressed so, in my opinion— namely, by the connection of old lines that have 

 traversed through the blood of different kennels. However, to my task now of 

 showing what the North Stafford are to-day, after a pretty direct line of breeding 

 for forty-two years. 



" I must mention that Mr. Davenport, at the invitation of the Duke of Suther- 

 land, removed his hounds from Wolstanton, some little time before he died, to 

 Trentham, which is much more conveniently situated, the former place being 

 almost outside the country. The kennels at Trentham had been originally built 

 to accommodate the sporting dogs of a late duke, and, with some additions and 

 extra yards, they made as perfect foxhoimd kennels as can be found for their 

 size, the buildings being in the old-fashioned substantial style, and of an archi- 

 tecture to tally with other ornamental structures on the domain. My visit this 

 week happened on a beautiful day, and it was indeed a very enjoyable morning 

 with Dickins and his popular whip, Will Boxall, who on one occasion very 

 nearly won the Liverpool Steeplechase. As usual, I expressed a wish to see 

 last year's entry, and the first couple drawn were the brothers Castor and Capital, 

 by Racer out of Charity, the former being the best, but both so far beaten by 

 several of their comrades that followed as to preclude much chance of their being 

 sires of the future. The next lot of brothers, a trio by Newsman, a son of the 

 Oakley Newsman, I liked much better ; and one of them, named Grumbler, was the 

 cup puppy of the lot walked in Yorkshire. He is a grand little hound, very level, 

 full of bone, and quite a typical twenty-three-inch hound, his brothers, Gamester 

 and Grappler, being fairly good also, and all are clippers in their work, so that 

 Grumbler is likely to be used early. Their pedigree is quite of the oldest kennel 

 strain, as their dam Guilty was by Falstaff, Dickins's crack sire above named, and 

 she was out of Governess, whose dam was Gaiety, a daughter of Valiant, who, 

 as I have traced above, went back to the Cheshire Bangor. A handsome couple 

 of hounds of the dark Belvoir tan are Hamblin and Hercules, by Harbinger, out 

 of Garland ; and here again the old source of which Joe Maiden was so proud is 

 gone back to, as Harbinger was by the Brocklesby Alfred, by their Ambrose, son 

 of Belvoir Senator ; and Harbinger's dam was Hasty, by Lord Hill's Dexter out 

 of Harmony, a daughter of Bracelet, by Bedford, and thus down to the Cheshire 



