54 British Dogs. 



will arise in every reader's memory, but they will lose nothing by 

 repetition here : 



Yet rest thee, God ! for well I know 

 I ne'er &hall find a nobler foe 

 In all the northern countries here, 

 "Whose word is snaffle, spur, and spear. 

 Thou wert the best to follow gear; 

 'Twas pleasure, as we looked behind, 

 To see how thou the chase could wind, 

 Cheer the dark bloodhound on his way, 

 And with the bugle rouse the fray. 

 I'd give the lands of Deloraine 

 Dark Musgrave were alive again. 



In later times the bloodhound has been used successfully in tracing 

 poachers. Meyrick, in his useful little work on dogs, gives an interesting 

 example of a successful poacher hunt, and he was often used for tracing 

 thieves, and as an instance of this, so late as the beginning of the present 

 century, the Thrapstone Association for the Prosecution of Felons a 

 class of institution now almost obsolete kept a trained bloodhound for 

 the tracking of sheep stealers. The description of the dog so employed, as 

 given by Somerville in " The Chase," is inimitable in its graphic force. 

 No one not thoroughly acquainted with hounds could have worked e\ery 

 detail into so telling a picture : 



Soon the sagacious brute, his curling tail 

 Flourished in air, low bending, plies around 

 His busy nose, the steaming vapour enuffs 

 Inquisitive, nor leaves one turf untried, 

 Till cor&cious of the recent stains, his heart 

 Beats quick ; his snuffling nose, his active tail, 

 Attest his joy ; then with deep opening mouth, 

 That makes the welkin tremble, he proclaims 

 Th' audacious felon ; foot by foot he makes 

 His winding way, while all the listening crowd 

 Applaud his reasonings : O'er the watery ford, 

 Dry sandy heaths, and stony barren hills ; 

 O'er beaten paths, by men and beasts disdained, 

 Unerring he pursues ; 'till at th cot 

 Arrived, and seizing by his guilty throat 

 The caitif vile, redeems the captive prey. 

 So exquisitely delicate is his nose. 



Somerville is not the only poet who has paid tribute to the wonderful 

 powers of this king of hounds. Tickell, in his poem on hunting, says : 



O'er all the bloodhourd boasts superior skill, 

 To scent, to view, to turn, to boldly kill. 



