KENNEL OF LORD MIDDLETON. 45 



111 the kennel of Lord Micldleton, at Birdsall, 

 near Malton, in Yorkshire, now hunting the coun- 

 try so long occupied by Sir Tatton Sykes, are to 

 be found the descendants of Mr. Corbet's pack, 

 who hunted Warwickshire at the end of the last 

 century. These hounds were purchased of Mr. 

 Corbet by a former Lord Middleton, by whom, on 

 his resigning Warwickshire, they were transferred 

 to Sir Tatton Sykes, and by Sir Tatton they have been 

 again handed over to the present Lord Middleton. 



At Petworth, in Sussex, the blood of the late 

 Lord Egremont's pack still flourishes ; and I am 

 told these hounds are exceedingly powerful and 

 clever, showing excellent sport under their talented 

 huntsman. Squires. 



Mr. Drake succeeded Sir Thomas Mostyn in his 

 Oxfordshire country, with whose pack, in by- 

 gone days, I have had many a sharp skurry; 

 and I remember once riding an untried four-year 

 old mare, through a very severe run with these 

 hounds, side by side with young Peyton, as he was 

 then familiarly called, when many horses were so 

 thoroughly knocked up that they were left in the 

 field where we killed our fox, and there bedded up 

 with loads of straw, being incapable of moving- 

 farther. This young mare being nearly, if not 

 quite thorough bred, I rode home that same night 



