KENNELS AND STABLES. 249 



gift of the kennels and the Hunt servants' quarters, by 

 the third Duke of Sutherland, especially when it is re- 

 membered that for many years his Grace took very little 

 part in the hunting-field. Hunting-men in North Stafford- 

 shire should never forget the debt of gratitude they owe, 

 not only to the present Duke, but also to his father, for 

 their remarkable liberality in this respect. In a neigh- 

 bouring Hunt (the Meynell), the cost to the members of 

 the Hunt, of providing kennels and stables, and cottages 

 for the Hunt servants, amounted to upwards of £12,000, 

 equivalent to a perpetual payment of nearly £500 a year, 

 and but for the exceptional generosity of the Sutherland 

 family, something like the sum above mentioned would 

 represent the cost to the North Stafford Hunt subscribers 

 of supplying the necessary Hunt buildings. The question, 

 however, is not to be regarded solely as a money question ; 

 if the whole of the North Staffordshire country was 

 examined with a view to finding the most convenient and 

 appropriate site for the Hunt kennels, it is obvious that 

 no better site than Trentham could be found for the 

 purpose. It is not only that Trentham is as nearly in 

 the centre of the Hunt as possible, but in every way, for 

 exercising-ground, for water and drainage, for size and 

 airiness, and for all that makes for healthiness in hound 

 management the Trentham kennels are second to none 

 that we know of in the country. That these advantages 

 should be conferred upon the North Stafford Hunt, free 

 of cost and trouble, surely deserves more than a mere 

 passing word of acknowledgment. The kennels at Trentham 

 are about a quarter of a mile from the Hall, on gently 

 rising ground, with a sunny southern or south-eastern 

 aspect, selected, apparently, with a due regard to Somer- 

 ville's advice, who says a keimel should always be built — 



" Upon some little eminence erect, 

 And fronting to the ruddy dawn, its courts 

 On either hand wide-opening to receive 

 The sun's all-cheering beams." 



The site is on the outskirts of the park on the Hanford, 



