THE TEDWORTH HUNT PICTURE. 173 



of bitches : the height of the dogs ranging from twenty- 

 three and a half to twenty-four inches, and that of the 

 bitches averaging about twenty-two and a half. In the 

 days of Solyman, Conqueror, and Watchman, the hounds 

 were much larger, but Mr. Smith found that the Hamp- 

 shire country required a smaller hound than the Leicester- 

 shire. 



While on the subject of hounds, we are naturally 

 drawn to advert to the splendid picture of the Hunt at 

 Tedworth, painted at Penton in 1829, by Mr. Ferneley, 

 who came expressly from Leicestershire into Hants, and 

 was the squire's guest for a fortnight, for this purpose. Mr. 

 Smith, as has been already mentioned, is on Ayston, with 

 Dick Burton, his huntsman, standing at the side of the Big 

 Grey ; Tom Day, the first whip, on Beformer ; and Bob 

 Edwards, the second whip, holding Anderson, Mr. Smith's 

 second horse. The numerous hounds in the picture are all 

 portraits. Among those most famous are Bifleman, stand- 

 ing close to Dick Burton, who has a pair of couples in hi,, 

 hand. Watchman, Dimity, Chorister, Dabchick, Trimbush, 

 Tomboy, Traffic, Beginald, Bubicon, Boundley, Bosy, Com- 

 modore, and Clinker. Trimbush is looking \ip at Mr. Smith, 

 while Chorister stands under his horse's head, and Bifleman 

 with the huntsman is at his side. In front of the picture 

 are Commodore and Watchman, while Barity is gamboling 

 towards her master. Under the tree, in the background, 

 sSts Bemus, a well-known hound. On the left is Tedworth 

 House. The sportsman in the green coat just about to 

 mount his horse in the distance is Mr. Northeast, the agent 

 of the Tedworth estates, famous for his judgment and expe- 

 rience in the breeding of Southdown sheep. Speaking of 

 this picture, and of the principal figure in it, Mr. Ferneley 

 says, in a letter written on the 23rd of October, 1859 : " It 

 gives me much j^leasure to hear of the publication of a 

 memoir of so excellent a sportsman and so good a man. It 

 is now fifty-three years since I first saw him ; he was riding 



