The Foxhound. 65 



nearer the mark, and this goes on ('weather permitting') for nearly 

 half the year. 



" It is a clearly ascertained fact that a country cannot be properly 

 hunted three days a week for less than .3000 a year, or four days a week 

 for less than .4000 a year, and if we make this a basis for calculation, 

 we have as an approximate no less a sum than .600,000 a year spent 

 on foxhunting establishments alone, to say nothing of the enormous 

 sums spent on the private studs of those for whom the sport is provided, 

 nearly every shilling of which is not only spent at home, but on home 

 products, and filters through every branch of the home trade. 



I do not rhyme for that dull elf 

 Who cannot picture to himself 



that the chief reason why our ' flower of chivalry ' are the finest and 

 best field officers in the world is owing to the knowledge of the manage- 

 ment of the horse, and the courage inspired thereby acquired by early 

 lessons taken in the hunting field. 



" There is no breed of dogs that have attained to such a high degree of 

 perfection in form and substance as Foxhounds. Their pedigrees have 

 been longer and better kept ; their breeders have united science with 

 practice for many years past, and the result shows the master's hand. 

 They have also been long under the control of a class with whom petty 

 jealousies do not stand in the way of improvements, the services of a 

 favourite hound in most packs being available for any other kennel if 

 properly sought, of which we have an instance in the case of the late Sir 

 Eichard Sutton, who, in a letter to a brother M.F.H., written only a 

 few days before his death, says, * Send bitches to Glider,' Glider being 

 considered the best hound in Sir Eichard' s kennel. 



"The modern Foxhound possesses in the highest degree thep roper 

 conformation for courage, scenting powers, speed, and endurance, which 

 proclaim him a workman of the first order and a model of canine per- 

 fection to breed up to a model such as Petrarch in the equine world, 

 that we may fancy to have said at the St. Leger post, ' Tell Kisber and 

 the gentlemen that I am here waiting.' In short, the Foxhound is a 

 pattern card for the breeders of pointers, setters, retrievers, &c., to help 

 them to breed out chumpy heads and lumpy shoulders, lanky backs and 

 cranky hind quarters, leathery necks and narrow chests, cow hocks and 

 weak feet and pasterns. 



F 



