BAILY'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE

OF

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

LORD POLTIMORE.

THERE are few positions more fraught with peril to youth than that of being possessed of an ample inheritance, with uncontrolled action and a taste for the amusements of the field; and it is rare to find one dowered with these advantages, as they may be, steering his course clear amidst the quicksands that surround him in the pursuit of those pastimes of which, in his case, fashion is not the sole instigator. The love of hunting is strongly inherent to some natures, and when to witness and direct the 'canum alacritas in venando' is the object of desire, and that the necessary accompaniment of hard riding is held to be of secondary, and not primary value, such true sportsman is certain to obtain a sterling notoriety in the more scientific department of the hunting field. Should hunting be assumed as a fashion, a tailor and a horse-dealer are the fitting masters of the ceremonies, and the great grass grounds of the midland shires the proper arena of exhibition. Three hundred men in scarlet are not three hundred sportsmen. Ten per cent.-a large proportion-may be first flight men; not two per cent. would be capable of taking the management of hounds, and one per cent. would be an extravagant allowance for those who themselves could handle hounds, and kill their fox upon a half scent.

We have now to deal with one, whose portrait is on the other side of the page, that at an early day of his career has accomplished the task of having formed and bred a pack of fox-hounds of distinguished ability, by his own judgment, and of having carried out his standard of taste and requirement with a precision that has given a unity of character and shape to his hounds which rarely belongs to any, save an establishment of long and hereditary standing.

The family of Bamfylde is one of ancient lineage in the county of Devon. They became possessed of Poltimore in the twentysixth year of the reign of Edward I., A.D. 1298; and for which large estate, at that time, John Bamfylde paid the sum of two hundred pounds. The twelfth in lineal descent was created a Baronet VOL. VIII.-No. 50.

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in 1641, and married Gertrude, the daughter of Amyas, sister and co-heir of John Copleston, of Copleston and Warlegh. By subsequent sale and marriage the Warlegh estates passed to the Radcliffe family, who represent the junior branch of the Coplestons, as Lord Poltimore does the eldest. The father of the present Lord Poltimore, Sir George Warwick Bamfylde, was elevated to the Peerage in 1831, and his son, Augustus Frederick George Warwick, born in 1837, succeeded to the title in 1858. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and married, in 1858, one of those radiant descendants of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, on whom it would seem, by patent and graceful evidence, that beauty and accomplishments had been bestowed by destiny as an eternal heirloom. At an early period Lord Poltimore evinced his predilection for hunting, and the fact of his having graduated under the celebrated Mr. Russell, the favourite pupil of George Templer, is a guarantee that the venatorial accidence was correctly imparted. Like all young men of large means really fond of legitimate hunting, Lord Poltimore determined on having hounds, and he commenced his career as Master in 1857.

The first and trial pack did not accord with that standard of excellence and shape which he had moulded in his imagination, after the precept and example of his able preceptor, Mr. Russell, and they were summarily discarded. In 1858 the hounds of Mr. Robert Luxton, of Brushford, were transferred to the Poltimore kennel. These came direct, and in a body, from the Earl of Portsmouth, and the Eggesford kennel may be said, truly and indeed, to have been the 'Stammhaus' of the Poltimore establishment. It is well known that Lord Portsmouth formed his pack from the Vale of White Horse, the Old Craven, and the Vine, of all of which he had become the proprietor. From this vast assemblage of hounds, Mr. Robert Luxton had the pick of the drafts, or, properly speaking, the choice of those that were rejected by Lord Portsmouth, from size or other reasons, and these were the hounds that came to Lord Poltimore in 1858. The principal strains of blood were from the Duke of Rutland, Lord Yarborough, Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord Portsmouth, Assheton Smith, Mr. Foljambe, Mr. Meynell Ingram, Old Craven, Vale of White Horse, and the Vine. With this lot came the Belvoir Comus, out of Syren by the Drake Duster.

The Poltimore Comus, that was brought in an unentered draft from Belvoir Castle to Eggesford, is son of the Belvoir Comus, by the Belvoir Champion, by the Fitzwilliam Shiner, out of Barmaid. The Belvoir Comus was an excellent line hunter, and most forward and persevering in chase; of such repute also as a stud-hound that no less than sixty couple of bitch-hounds were sent to him at Belvoir in one season from strange kennels. His grandsire, the Fitzwilliam Shiner, was by the Scarborough Saladin, of the Monson blood, out of Traffick by Yarborough Trimmer. By reference to a copy of the Hayne MS. Manual of Studhounds, now in the possession of Mr. Trelawny, of Coldrennick, and presented to him at his testimonial banquet, we find that Trimmer went back through

Truant to the Fitzwilliam Traitor of 1797. He was one of the best of the very best of the Yarborough kennel; an extraordinary finder, with a deep and melodious tongue-could own the coldest scent, and was equally apt on the line and in fast chase; and it should be especially remarked that he was good on road, a sure and valuable merit, which in the majority of cases is transmitted to progeny. In using the word 'finding' in distinction from drawing,' it should be mentioned that there are some hounds imbued with the singular instinct of going up to a fox, should he be in covert anywhere, and instantly; and to be slack in drawing, if it be a blank. The Cheshire Victor, by Bedford, was an example. This hound would not go into covert unless there was a fox. If he judged it to be tenantless, he went into the gorse for about a yard, satisfied himself, came out, and lay down. He was never known to fail. There was another peculiarity belonging to Trimmer. He was always accompanied by a bitch-hound, Prattler; she never left him, and they worked and found together. When Prattler was out without Trimmer she appeared to be disconsolate, and was comparatively idle. It has been shown that the Poltimore Comus combines some of the choicest blood in England, of every description of merit, and we shall point out hereafter another Trimmer strain in this same kennel of equal value, and possessed of the same brilliant capacities.

Boniface, by the Vine Romulus, comes from the old Vine sort of Mr. Chute's Pensioner, from which Assheton Smith bred his celebrated Watchman, by the Vine Larkspur. He also combines the blood of the Grafton Nigel. He is an excellent hound, and has proved himself a worthy and standard sire.

Pleasant, by the Fitzwilliam Feudal, out of Pastime. Feudal, a Milton stud-hound, was by the Beaufort Flyer out of Fitzwilliam Blithesome, by the Yarborough Bluecap-tracing back to the Cheshire Bluecap-a rare sort, with plenty of tongue and true in

work.

Freedom, by the Pytchley Pillager out of Lord Portsmouth's Freedom. Pytchley Pillager by Juggler, by Lonsdale Senator out of Playful, own sister to Sir Richard Sutton's Contest, one of his favourite hounds. The Lonsdale Senator was remarkable in work and chase; was much used, and had a most melodious tongue.

Pastime, by Yarborough Pleader, of the Yarborough Plunder sort. The latter was noted for getting large bitches of twenty-two and twenty-three inches.

Foreman, by Assheton Smith's Furrier, out of Fatima. Furrier was by Osbaldeston's Ferryman, by Furrier, by Belvoir Saladin.

Harriet, by Fitzwilliam Hermit, out of Assheton Smith's Novice. Hermit was by Drake's Hector out of Fitzwilliam Goldfinch, by Yarborough Ganymede. Hermit was sire of the Beaufort Rufus and Remus, out of a Dorimont bitch, going back through Denmark and Diligent to Nectar and Abelard, the patriarchs of the Badminton kennel. The Drake Hector was by Beaufort Hazard, by Lonsdale

Harbinger out of Beaufort Purity, by Beaufort Nectar. He was reputed to be the best stud-hound of his day, and there is not a kennel of repute without a strain of this famous hound.

Among the other sires may be mentioned the Belvoir Prompter and Bertram, the latter a sire of celebrity. Yarborough Orator, a famous hound, sire of Fitzwilliam Ottoman. Assheton Smith's Abelard, Regulus, Fire King, Trojan, Rustic, the Fitzwilliam Hardwicke-Mr. Meynell Ingram's Rifleman going back through Reveller, by the Belvoir Rasselas, to their favourite Nelly of the Meynell Stormer sort, the Eggesford Royalist, Romulus, Nimrod, Sailor, and Reveller.

In 1859 Lord Poltimore purchased eighteen couple of the Atherstone lady pack-Mr. Selby Lowndes-for seven hundred guineas, Lord Curzon taking the dogs and the large bitches, and with this important addition he has formed the present pack, and shaped it into a unity of style and form that has given to it a particular and exclusive character. With the Atherstone were introduced the following strains of blood:

Vanity, by Mr. Foljambe's Royster out of Lord Yarborough's Vanity, brought through this descendant of Ruler, the Grove Albion sort, by Lifter out of Actress, one of the foremost sires of his day. The Foljambe or Grove were line-hunting, fast in chase, and killing with plenty of tongue. The bitches were twenty-two and a half inches, clever and level. The dog-hounds were uneven.

Genial, by the Belvoir Guider out of Mr. Lowndes' Crafty. Guider was by the Drake Duster. The latter hound, the grandsire of the Poltimore Comus, was pre-eminent amongst the stud-hounds of Mr. Drake of Shardeloes, and conveyed an accession of tongue to the Belvoir kennel, in which those hounds, excellent though they be, were and still are indubitably deficient. Guider has done good service at Eggesford, being the sire of several of the stud

hounds.

Truelove and Tempest, by the Belvoir General out of Mr. Lowndes' Trusty. General was by Gamester, and Gamester was out of Songstress, by Guider. There were three couples of stallion hounds at one time in the Belvoir kennel by Guider, out of Songstress, remarkable for line and road hunting; and the Governor of Lord Portsmouth, a stud-hound, is a clever descendant, inheriting all these valuable attributes.

Oddity, by Lord Henry Bentinck's Charon, out of Mr. Lowndes' Oddity. The Charon of Lord Henry Bentinck goes back, we believe, to the Grove Comus, which was bred by Lord Ducie, and was by Herald by Osbaldeston's Ranter out of Mr. Wickstead's Crazy. The Osbaldeston Ranter descended from the Yarborough Ranter, going back to the original hound of that name in 1790, out of Redrose, sister to the famous Ringwood.

Fallacy and Festive, by the Drake Bellman out of his Fallacy. Mr. Drake took great pains to obtain a strain of the Cheshire Bluecap, which blood he highly prized; and his Bluecap and Boaster,