PRICES PAID FOR HOUNDS. 161 



For good hounds Mr. Asslieton Smith would give any 

 price. He offered 400 guineas to Lord Forester for his 

 bitch Careful, also 100 guineas to Mr. Conyers for Bashful, 

 but in both cases their owners refused to part with them. 

 Mr. Conyers was almost a match for Mr. Assheton Smith in 

 enduring fatigue, and sometimes would ride more than 

 sixty miles inclusive to and from covert. He was no great 

 hand at taking a fence, but when on his grey horse Canvass, 

 whom he rode for seventeen seasons, he was seldom behind. 

 Canvass was purchased of Lord Chetwynd for 150 guineas, 

 and Mr. Assheton Smith afterwards offered Mr. Conyers 

 300 guineas for him without success. 



Mr. Mytton's hounds did not fetch a high price ; their 

 master had played such tricks -with them, that it was said 

 they could hunt anything, " from an elephant to an earwig." 

 Lord Middleton, in 1812, gave 1,200 guineas for the pack 

 he purchased. Mr. Horlock gave Mr. Warde 2,000 guineas 

 for his when he gave up the Craven country. Lord Suffield 

 gave Mr. Lambton 3,000 guineas for his hounds without 

 seeing them. These prices present a striking contrast to 

 the story told by Beckford of an auctioneer, who, having 

 sold off all a country gentleman's property, came at length 

 to his hounds. "What shall I say, gentlemen?" said the 

 knight of the hammer, " one shilling a piece ? " On 

 sportsmen present making an exclamation of horror, 

 " Why," he remarked, " that is more than I would give 

 for them." 



