232 AN EXPENSIVE PACK OF HAllRIERS. 



current coin of the realm to the amount of fi^ e 

 hundred pounds, which, as the Squire afterwards 

 jocosely remarked, " was the highest price ever 

 paid for a pack of harriers, with three couple re- 

 turned." 



Soon after this event, Trueman's eldest brother 

 dying without issue, a large though not very rich 

 tract of land in Yorkshire, consisting chiefly of 

 mountain and moor, fell into his possession, with 

 an old family mansion, rather the worse for having 

 stood above two centuries without much money 

 being lavished on repairs, and thither, glad to 

 escape from the vicinity of such a disagreeable 

 neighbour as Mr. Bragg, Trueman transferred 

 his establishment, with the three couple of old 

 harriers, from which have sprung the cleverest 

 pack in that county, and, for anything I have 

 heard to the contrary, are still hunted by the old 

 Squire. 



Failing an offer of such animals by public auc- 

 tion or private sale at the close of the season, it is, 

 as I have before observed, a very hazardous under- 

 taking to purchase drafts, which are seldom worth 

 more than the coats on their backs ; and as of tv\ o 

 evils we should naturally choose the least, I think, 

 being driven into the corner, I should pick up 

 up some small unentered fox-hound bitches from 



