29 Tu TheTimes 1stprinted by Steam, 1814 17 5527 4 110 1110 46 2611 1611 44 s4 428 5 30 W St. Andrew's Day 2 F 3 S 7m 11 0 45 1 11 $4 2N sets 1 38 2 3 Snipes and woodcocks plentiful 7 59 1 4 a 49 2 25 2 46 4S Second Sunday in Adŝent. 03 7 3 28 13 3 48 4 9 25 4 27 4 46 s3 56 8 morn. $4 026 r8 037 s3 59 4 8 18 2 5 9 7 16 7 40 59 8 s3 55 10 2 r8 511 3 $3 55 12 4 18 613 5 MASTERS OF HOUNDS. BY NIMROD. No. VII. THE LATE MR. CHUTE.-MR. ABRAHAM POLE.-MR. HENRY FELLOWES. MR. HAY.-MR. FELLOWES (SENIOR). THE LATE MR. CHUTE. PERHAPS the most extraordinary man, in some respects, that ever kept fox-hounds, was my friend and neighbour, the late Mr. Chute, of the Vine, Hampshire. With upwards of a hundred thousand pounds in money, and a large landed estate, groaning with timber*, he absolutely was now and then under the necessity of letting his hounds remain at home, from want of horses for his men ; eight being his maximum number, for himself, his huntsman, and one whipper-in, he, like Mr. Leche, being of opinion that a second whip is for the most part only employed in riding over hounds and laming horses. But some things relating to my old friend and neighbour, and his hounds, had all the character of a comedy, and I now often find myself laughing within myself, at the recollection of some of the scenes I witnessed in his kennel, his stables, and his country. In the first place-his kennel; why such a hole to put fox-hounds in was never seen,—not a yard larger than the room I am now writing in, and the lodging houses would scarcely be considered good enough for the pointers or greyhounds of some of our crack shooters and coursers. Then the result of all this! why, strange to say, a smart little pack of hounds were turned out of this " hole," in very fair condition, and such a disease as kennel lameness was never heard of in it! I shall never forget my first entrance into Mr. Chute's kennel, accompanied by himself. Observing the words Multum in parvo, over the door, I naturally expected to see hounds of a moderate size, with as much power condensed within that size as the skill and experience of their owner could effect. My surprise, however, was great, seeing a pack looking for the most part more like a The farms on the Vine estate were much injured by the immense quantity of hedge-row timber. On my accompanying Mr. Chute one morning, in his carriage, to meet the hounds at Lord Portsmouth's, he observed to me, that the poor people we met, with jugs on their heads, were going to his house for soup, and as we returned at night we should find them stealing his timber. "So much the better," said I. "What would you do with it?" asked my friend. "What!" I replied, "Why I would put four legs under it, and send it a hunting." I intended it for a hint as to his short stud. NO. XIII.-VOL. III.-NEW SERIES. D highly-bred pack of modern harriers, than fox hounds of any day; and so much did their general un-fox-hound-like look, if I may be allowed to coin a word, strike me at the moment, that, placing my stick upon one of them, I observed, "This looks like a clever hound." "That!" exclaimed Mr. Chute, "it is Larkspur, the best hound this day in England, and I have just been telling Mrs. Chute, who is writing to her sister, Lady Spencer, that if they want the best blood in England, in Northamptonshire, (Lord Althorp then had the Pytchley country) they must send to my Larkspur." Well, thought I, that is a queer message for a lady to give to another lady, and from her to be conveyed to a gentleman; but no doubt the result, had Larkspur been "sent to," would have benefitted any man's kennel, for he was not only an excellent hound in his work, but the following anecdote is confirmatory of what I have said. "I have received some benefit in my kennel,” said Sir Richard Sutton to me, two years back, at Melton Spiney," from a hound, from the Vine kennel, which you must know something of." "Was it Larkspur?" I asked. "Exactly so," replied Sir Richard." I am quite sure two better hounds than Larkspur and Woodman, in the Vine kennel, no man need desire to possess. There was a strongly marked character in the Vine hounds, in Mr. Chute's time. They were small, it is true, but the Multum in parvo principle was well carried out in their form and action; for they were not only, generally speaking, beautifully symmetrical, but they ran together as hounds should run—in a body, with all the dash one likes to see in fox-hounds, and yet true to the line, Their country, however, was favourable to this perfection in hounds-the carrying a good head. Barring park palings, they scarcely knew what a fence was, so that their "head" was seldom broken from that cause. Stoutness again, was also their forte; after the longest days, I never saw them droop their sterns; and with a good scent, they would seldom miss their fox, if he kept above ground. Infatuated as Mr. Chute was with fox-hunting, he appeared, indeed, to be insatiable in its pursuit; and he used to tell the farmers, with whom he was most popular, that he should hunt till the beans reached his stirrup irons. Infatuated, I repeat, as he was with hounds, and having kept them upwards of thirty years at the period to which I am alluding; also possessing a good eye to their working points, it is not to be wondered at, that, in the sort of hound it was his pleasure to breed, and one perhaps not altogether ill suited to his champaign country, he did arrive very nearly at perfection. All they wanted, if I may so express myself, was to be looked at through a magnifying glass, of sufficient power to bring their frames to the proper fox-hound standard, and then I think they would not have displeased the most fastidious eye. |