254 STA G- HUNTING 



* the longest chase ever remembered,' from Homer to 

 Satterleigh, nineteen miles as the crow flies, was accom- 

 plished in a little over five hours on October 8, 1815 : 

 and they killed a hind on April 15, 1817, not far from 

 the same place, after running her for seven hours and 

 five minutes. This was eclipsed, however, in point of 

 timeon August 22, 1815, when they laid on about 10.30 

 not far from Dulverton, and took their stag in the Chan- 

 nel about 7.30 with Chorister on his back ; and again 

 on October 5, 1819, when the pack was laid on at 

 10.30, and taken off without blood at 7 P.M. 



Their admiring chronicler, endorsed as we have 

 seen by ' Stonehenge,' claims for the old pack that, 

 like the French hounds, they would not hunt change, 

 but would stick to the line of their own deer, though 

 intermixed with that of others. 



The Master's private diary, however, casts doubt on 

 this e.g. August u, 1812 : 'Laid a couple of steady 

 hounds on a fine slot of a stag, but they crossed to the 

 scent of the hind and went off with her.' April 18, 1815, 

 1 We went through Mr. Brickdale's coverts and were 

 about to kill her, when a herd of nine deer crossed the 

 pack and we of course lost the hind,' while a passage in 

 the 'Chase of the Wild Red Deer' shows that they had 

 their share of graver faults, for it is there told how 

 on October 18, 1789, Sir Thomas Acland drew the 



