Scarlet. 277 



soon have seen one of his men with his whip in the 

 left hand, as anything under twenty couple out ; and 

 if it had been his fate to drop once more among the 

 scenes of his private pupil days, and catch Joe Maiden 

 dusting a fox with sixty couple on Delamere Forest, 

 he would have been all the better pleased. 



When Philip Payne came from Che- phiiip Payne's 

 shire to Badminton, he took a strong i^^^- 



fancy to Diligent of the badger-pye Abelard blood, 

 which was well represented in the kennel, and crossed 

 her with Nectar whom he borrowed for old acquain- 

 tance sake from Cheshire. This Nectar was a black 

 tan with long features, coarse neck, and dewlap, all 

 marking his old Talbot origin ; but it was not so much 

 for that as for his rare legs and feet that Philip fol- 

 lowed him. The Badminton Nectar had the big neck 

 and long features of his race, and was a coarse, heavy 

 hound, " who knew nothing about tiring." At walk 

 he persecuted the hares day and night, but never 

 showed any unsteadiness with a fox. He ran for 

 eleven seasons, and even when he was past all use in 

 every way, he rode twice a year to the Heythrop 

 kennels, on the baggage-waggon, for a treat, and 

 wandered about with a perfect ticket of leave into the 

 kitchen, or wherever he liked to go. The greatest 

 care was required in breeding between him and Dori- 

 mont by Denmark, as they were so closely allied in 

 blood, through Diligent. Dorimont himself was a 

 hound with a very short head, and Raffle and Boxer 

 were two of the best hounds by him. Will Long still 

 speaks fondly of the style in which the former hunted 

 a fox half a mile for him along the top of a wall, and 

 the latter would invariably find three foxes out of 

 four by his resolution in going through gorse. As a 

 general thing the Dorimonts ran badger, and the 

 Duncans (whose sire was also by Denmark) nearly all 

 yellow pye. 



No hounds could ever have too much bone for 



