Records of the Old Charlton Hunt 



surmounting a tall flagstaff, erected in front of it, to show 

 the " southerly wind," so dear to fox-hunters, a gift fr'om 

 Henrietta, Duchess of Bolton, the daughter of the Duke of 

 Monmouth, who seems to have inherited her father's love 

 of Charlton. Both she and her youthful son, Lord Nassau 

 Powlett, were constant visitors there. 



The fame of Charlton had now reached other countries. 

 St. Victor came from France to return his friend's visit, and 

 both that country and Germany sent admirers of the sport 

 to Charlton, with probably half the aristocracy of England, 

 amongst them the Duke of Richmond, who had purchased 

 Goodwood of the family of Compton in 1720 as a hunting 

 seat, and from thence brought both his Duchess and the 

 youthful Lord March to the meet at Charlton, while her 

 Grace, with her daughter. Lady Ann Lennox (afterwards 

 Countess of Albemarle), held assemblies in the evening at 

 Foxhall, countenanced by the presence of the Duchess of 

 Bolton, Lady Forester, and other ladies whom the 

 attraction of the chase had brought to Charlton, — a love of 

 hunting being by no means confined to the nobler sex. 



The success and importance of the Hunt appears now to 

 have provoked the envy of the then owner of Petworth, the 

 proud Duke of Somerset, who, accustomed to be paramount 

 in West Sussex, could not brook the sight of horses and 

 hounds riding over his estate. His Grace's ire is amusingly 

 described as enquiring first of his neighbour, Sir William 

 Goring, of Burton, "Whose hounds they were, so 

 frequently coming near his house ? " and on being told they 

 were the " Charlton Pack, Mr. Roper's," cried out, 

 stammering with anger, " Who is he ? Where's his estate ? 

 What right has he to hunt this country? I'll have hounds 



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