8 PHILIP PAYNE 



which would almost cut a small hound in half would only 

 excite the choler of a big burly brute of twenty-five or 

 twenty-six inches. In my own kennels I experienced 

 great difficulty in preserving order by whipcord alone, 

 and, after a fair trial, gave up the contest in favour of 

 milder measures. 



It was highly amusing to see old PhiHp Payne, the 

 celebrated huntsman to the Badminton Pack, drawing 

 his favourites for inspection, and the rush with which 

 they would spring out of the lodging-room, nearly knock- 

 ing the old man off his legs ; but he bore these onsets, 

 or outsets, with the most imperturbable good humour, 

 patting their heads all the while, they, apparently^ 

 venting threats, both loud and deep, against their vener- 

 able master. Poor old Philip ! a better judge of breeding 

 or hunting hounds never existed, or a cleverer or kinder 

 kennel huntsman. 



I may here mention an instance of the extreme docility 

 and generous disposition of fox-hounds of this class, 

 notwithstanding their outward rudeness of address and 

 ferocity of character when excited by ill treatment. 

 One of my children, a boy between four and five years 

 old, was missed one afternoon, and no one could tell 

 what had become of him ; every place was searched in 

 vain, when his nurse, knowing his partiality for playing 

 with the whelps in the green yard, ran down to the 

 kennel, in dread of finding him either bitten or half eaten 

 up by some of the brood-bitches, which were so savage, 

 when they had whelps, that no stranger might pass that 

 way. To the girl's horror, her young charge was dis- 

 covered under a thatched hurdle, playing with some 

 puppies, while their mother kept watch at the mouth of 

 her den, and it was not without much coaxing that she 



