J 



26 The Post and the Paddock. 



careful as he was on this point, we have known him 

 cross the Hne, and come back over the same ground 

 in the slowest walk, hit him, hunt up to him, and kill 

 him. Had he had full scope for his genius, he would 

 have been handed down as the first sportsman that 

 ever graced the annals of the chase. 



What may be done by change of system, good 

 judgment, and common sense, is illustrated most 

 strongly in the instance of the late Lord Spencer, 

 then Lord Althorp, when he took the Pytcheley 

 country. He gave 1000 guineas to John Warde for 

 his hounds, and never bred, we believe, but from one 

 dog hound in the pack, who was bred by Mr. Lee 

 Anthony. His name was Charon, and he was the sire 

 of some of the best hounds in after-days, and amongst 

 them of a bitch called Arrogant, who was perhaps the 

 most extraordinary hound that ever hunted a fox. 

 She combined hunting, chasing, nose, and stoutness, in 

 a manner that no hound we ever heard of could equal. 

 Lord Althorp sent his bitches to the best hounds in 

 the kingdom, regardless of any trouble or expense. 

 He began with a pack which with anything like a 

 scent invariably tired to their fox ; and drawing for a 

 second, after even a very moderate run, was a thing 

 quite out of the question. It must be allowed, how- 

 ever, that John Warde's hounds had one quality, 

 which to a man about to form a pack was most in- 

 valuable, and that was their extreme steadiness. 

 There were between twenty and thirty couple of old 

 hounds, who would run nothing but fox. As school- 

 masters they were beyond all value, and mainly con- 

 tributed to the great superiority which the pack in 

 future years so strongly evinced. When my lord got 

 what he liked, it was one of the most perfect establish- 

 ments that ever took the field. They could hunt, 

 they could chase, were stout and steady, and in short 

 could do everything a man could wish. No scent was 

 too good and none too bad for them. They could cut 



