JUSTICE
—was a horse of considerable note both as a RUNNER and a STALLION: he was bred by the late Lord Grosvenor; was foaled in 1774; got by Herod, out of Curiosity, (who was got by Snap,) her dam by Regulus, and grand-dam by Bartlet's Childers. Without obtaining any distinguished celebrity, he for many years maintained his ground as a stallion above mediocrity, and produced some tolerable racers: amongst the best of which were Æacus, Mentor, Minos, Rhadamanthus, Dedalus, and Midnight.
K.
KEEPERS
—are of different kinds, acting under different appointments, as servants of the Crown, or of individuals. There are FOREST-keepers, PARK-keepers, and GAME-keepers, whose employments are distinct and separate from each other. It is the province of the first to protect and superintend the DEER in any one of his Majesty's forests, to which he is appointed, and to become a principal instrument of enforcing the laws enacted for its preservation, against depredators of every description. Park-keepers are retained in the service of NOBLEMEN and GENTLEMEN who have parks stocked with deer, having the same perquisites and privileges as those employed in the service of the Crown; their employment is principally to superintend, preserve, and regulate the stock, as well as to kill BUCKS, DOES, and FAWNS, according to the season, when required for the table; which can never be done by any PARK-keeper of the Crown, without the receipt of a proper WARRANT previously issued from superior authority for that purpose. Game-keepers are employed in various forests, parks, chases, free-warrens, and manors, the property of the Crown, to furnish a constant supply of game for his Majesty's table and household, under such regulations as prevent the possibility of too great an influx at one time, and too short a supply at another. Every LORD or LADY possessing a manor within any part of the kingdom, has the power of appointing a person, under the denomination of a GAME-keeper, to protect, preserve, or KILL any kind of GAME upon the particular MANOR for which he is appointed; and to execute and enforce all such other manorial rights and privileges within the department, as may be submitted to his delegation; he first conforming to the LEGAL prescription, before he can be confirmed, or qualified to act in the office to which he has been deputed.—See Game-Laws, and Game-Keepers.
KENNEL
—is the place where hounds are kept; upon the judicious construction of which, their health, safety, and preservation, are known greatly to depend. Those who take to, or become possessed of, KENNELS ready built, frequently continue them in the form they fall into their hands; but such as encounter the expence of new erections, cannot do better than take a previous survey of the most approved plans; amongst which the Duke of Bedford's, at Wooburn Abby; the Duke of Richmond's, at Goodwood, in Sussex; and Sir William Rowley's, at Tendring Hall, Suffolk, are supposed, for extent and convenience, to take the lead of most others in the kingdom. Taste and FASHION may go a great way in the external glare of such establishments; but HEALTH and CONVENIENCE should always prove the most predominant considerations. It is universally admitted, by all who have a practical knowledge of this subject, that in large and regularly-hunted packs, two kennels are indispensibly necessary to the success and well-doing of the whole. When there is but one, it can in the winter season be but seldom cleaned; and even then the hounds are in a comfortless state, from the dampness of the situation so long as it remains. Cleanliness is so essentially necessary in every APARTMENT and DEPARTMENT of a kennel, that no continuance of health in the hounds, or excellence in the field, can be expected without it. They are individually innately clean; and will never, if they can avoid it, dung near where they lie. Air, fresh straw, and ample room for the occasional expansion of their weary limbs, are requisite for the invigoration of the frame, and the preservation of health. Hounds confined in a body, are more liable to disease, than the same animal single, and in a state of unrestrained liberty; hence the necessity for counteraction, by every means the most prudent precaution can adopt. Hounds thus subject to, and constantly attacked with disease, and even madness, under the best and most judicious management, must be evidently much more so if surrounded with filth and nastiness.
That some idea may be formed of the grandeur of the buildings, and the liberal scale, of the most celebrated hunting establishments, it is only necessary to introduce a few explanatory remarks upon the kennels of eminence already mentioned. The superb edifice of the Duke of Richmond is said (and probably with great truth) to have cost 10,000l. in its erection; to which his Grace contributed no small proportion of personal assistance. He is reported to have been his own architect and builder; to have dug his own flints, burnt his own lime, made his own bricks, and framed the woodwork in his own shops. The DOG KENNEL, abstracted from all other buildings, stands alone, in such part of the park as to form a grand and striking object from the principal rooms of the mansion; the materials are flints, finished at all the angles by a light grey brick, like the Lymington white-stock.
The distribution of the building is into five compartments; two of them 36 feet by 15, and three more 30 by 15; these are called KENNELS, to which are annexed two feeding-rooms, 28 by 15. In each of these are openings at top, for the admission of external air, when necessary; and stoves to qualify the air when too cold. There are supplies of water, and drains into what is termed a stank, a considerable depth below, full of rain-water, from the surface of which to the rise of the arch is eleven feet; so that no inconvenience arises from smell; and the whole can be occasionally cleared off by drains to more dependent depths, and dung-pits, where it becomes contributary to the purposes of agriculture. Round the whole building is a pavement five feet wide; airing-yards, places for breeding, and other conveniences, making a part of each wing. To constitute a uniformity of elegance, neatness, and perfection, the HUNTSMAN and WHIPPER-IN have each a parlour, kitchen, and sleeping-room, appropriated to their own particular purpose.
The Duke of Bedford's is an immense establishment, upon a scale of too much extent for particular description, as it includes TENNIS-COURT, RIDING-HOUSE, &c. &c. in one stone-fronted building, of 266 feet in length; with two wings of stables, containing stalls for 36 hunters; and eleven loose houses, for horses sick or lame. As the DOG-KENNEL, however, is the only part entitled to notice under this head, it will create no surprise that the richest subject should possess the most complete in England. It is in length 405 feet, having the boiling-house in the centre, with feeding rooms adjoining, and a granary behind. On the right of the centre are apartments for two KENNEL-KEEPERS, two long lodging rooms for the hunting hounds, with flues running along the walls, to preserve an equal temperature in the severity of the winter season; spacious yards to each, furnished with a fountain in the middle, for the dogs to drink at; and water-cocks fixed at proper distances, to cleanse the pavement, when it may be required: adjoining to these, are seven hospitals for sick and lame hounds, with yards to each. On the left are divisions for litter, straw, &c. eleven apartments for bitches and puppies, with yards to each; eleven ditto for bitches in pup, with yards also; and a large division for bitches at heat. In the front is a large reservoir of water, which supplies the fountains, and different cocks in the several yards within. Behind the whole is a large airing-ground, flesh-house, and all requisite conveniencies. The huntsman's dwelling-house is a handsome building adjoining. The number of hunting hounds kept in the kennel are usually from sixty to seventy couple.