82 Silk and Scarlet. 



and when he came up to her and cheered her, she 

 turned her head and looked back at him, as much as 

 to say, " Come along, old heavy ; I'll take you to 

 them." Ranter was one of the wildest hounds, and 

 the most difficult to break, but one of the best of 

 stallions. Tom Wingfield used to say that he never 

 had so much trouble with any hound before. Asshe- 

 ton Smith's Champion and Chorister were by him, 

 and they were the sires of some of the most valuable 

 hounds in Lord Althorp's pack — a pack which would 

 go up to the scent without going beyond it, and 

 thereby would wait upon a fox who never would wait 

 for them. 

 The Chase of Nearly sixty years having elapsed since 

 Yore. the few anecdotes we have recorded took 

 place, we must be excused if we cut short the thread 

 of our tale. Never was any period more propitious 

 for the chase. The breeding and management of 

 hounds was thoroughly understood : men went out to 

 enjoy hunting, and not to spoil it. The country was 

 not gridironed by railways, nor did steam engines 

 impregnate the atmosphere with noxious gas. There 

 were not two or three men draining in every field. Of 

 the few sheep there were, the greater part were rotten, 

 and hung in the brambles of the fences. Hunting 

 was then at its culminating point. Modern science 

 has doubtless filled the pockets of the jobber and the 

 speculator, but it has gone far to destroy the noblest 

 pursuit which the gods ever bestowed on mortals. 

 With whatever evil eye the age of feudalism may be 

 viewed by the present generation, it was the age for 

 sport. Those were the days " when nature's dress was 

 loveliness!' and which in vain we may sigh for, for the 

 like will never return. 



