THE BLOODHOUND. 



BY J. L. WlNCHELL. 



Two dogs of black St. Hubert breed, 

 Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed, 

 Fast on his flying traces came, 

 And all but Avon that desperate game. 



For scarce a spear's length from his haunch, 



Vindictive toiled the Bloodhound staunch; 



Nor nearer might the dogs attain, 



Nor farther might the quarry strain. 



Thus up the margin of the lake, 



Between the precipice and brake, 



O'er stock and rock, their race they take. 



Scott, in "The Lady of the Lake." 



And hark! and hark! the deep-mouthed bark 



Comes nigher still, and nigher! 

 Bursts on the path a dark Bloodhound; 

 His tawny muzzle tracked the ground, 



And his red eye shot fire. 



"Lay of the Last Minstrel ' 



., DDISON, in the Spectator, contends that the English 

 Bloodhound is a descendant from Vulcan's dogs. 



In proof of his statement he adds this bit of his- 

 tory: "It is well known by the learned that there 

 was a temple on Mount ^Etna dedicated to Yulcan, which 

 was guarded by dogs of so exquisite a smell," says the his- 

 torian, "that they could discern whether the person that 

 came thither was chaste or otherwise. They used to meet 

 and fawn upon such as were chaste, caressing them as 

 friends of their master, Yulcan, but flew at those that were 

 polluted, and never ceased barking at them till they were 

 driven from the temple. After they had lived there in 

 great repute for several years, it so happened that one of 

 the priests, who had been making a charitable visit to a 



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