132 SPORTING REMINISCENCES [1825 to 



I saw with these hounds there was no want of 

 head over the grass, but over the plough, when 

 the fox ran straight, we were all obliged to 

 string, where the lands were very wide, and 

 consequently the furrows many yards distant 

 from each other. I have heard it stated that 

 the most brilliant runs have been shown by the 

 small pack, and I think it reasonable to con- 

 clude that it should be so, and I never attempt 

 to argue against facts. 



" One thing, however, I can answer for in 

 both packs, and that is, from the great strength 

 in young hounds, there is no want of power at 

 the last, and they have killed twenty-five brace 

 of foxes up to the present day. 

 Foster. " Of Foster, the huntsman, I have 



already spoken, but I must be allowed to 

 mention him here. He was brought up under 

 that renowned old sportsman, Mr. Smith of 

 Sholebrook Lodge, in Northamptonshire, who 

 farmed the Duke of Grafton's hounds, and 

 rode after him as pad-groom when in his 

 eighty-ninth year ! John Clay don then hunted 

 them, and was succeeded by Tom Rose, the 

 present huntsman. Foster then lived ten years 

 with Lord Southampton, from whence he went 

 to Lord Foley, and it was with his lordship's 

 pack, as first whipper-in, that I first knew him, 



