30 AEISTOOrvATIC HOUNDS, 



Dukes of Rutland and Beaufort, and tlie Earls of Yar- 

 borough and Fitzwilliam ; wliich have been main- 

 tained in tlieir respective families, from father to 

 son, for more than a hundred years ; and from 

 these are principally descended the numerous 

 other packs which are spread over Great Britain. 



Of these four kennels the Duke of Rutland's 

 stands at the head, for power and symmetry com- 

 bined ; and I think, taken all together, are decidedly 

 the cleverest pack of fox-hounds in England on the 

 flags. Whether they are the cleverest in the field 

 also, I have no means of ascertaining. The Bel» 

 voir Pack are distinguished from any other I have 

 seen, by that peculiar colour of black and tan, and 

 a silkiness of coat, or fineness of hair, not gene- 

 rally seen in other fox-hounds, except in those 

 crossed with this blood ; and if, as some old sport- 

 ing writers assert, without any positive grounds for 

 the opinion, there has been a cross some two hun- 

 dred years ago between the greyhound and fox- 

 hound, this pack, from their clean necks and 

 shoulders, appear in favour of that supposition, 

 although I do not believe such to have been the 

 case ; for our Nimrods of olden times, to whom 

 fineness of nose was of paramount importance, 

 and who loved hunting for the sake of hunting, 

 not racing, appear to me the most unlikely men to 



