Lot Essay
Henry Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort succeeded in 1803 and inherited a good, but imperfect pack. He engaged Philip Payne from Cheshire as huntsman of whom it was as remarked 'to appearance a dullest clay was never moulded by nature', but he was patient, observant and scientific as a huntsman and above all a hound breeder. He bred a pack to give 'near palpitation of the heart in the first ten minutes' and made it the best pack in England after the Belvoir.