The Beagle. 79 



CHAPTER XIII. THE BEAGLE. 



BY CORSINCON. 



THIS is another and the smallest of hounds or hunting dogs, as the name 

 "Beagle," which means smallness, implies. The following description 

 from Somerville's poem, " The Chase," applies with propriety to either 

 the Beagle or harrier, and is as clear, minute, and correct as it is 

 beautiful : 



His glossy sMn, or yellow pied or blue, 



In lights or shades by Nature's pencil drawn, 



Reflects the various tints ; his ears and legs, 



Flecked here and there in gay enamelled pride, 



Rival the speckled pard ; his rush grown tail 



O'er his broad back bends in an ample arch ; 



On shoulders clean upright and firm he stands ; 



His round cat foot, straight hams, and wide-spread thighs, 



And his low drooping chest, confess his speed, 



His strength, his wind, or on the steepy hill 



Or far extended plain. 



Of the antiquity of the breed there can be no doubt. It is said that 

 Queen Elizabeth owned a pack so small that they could be carried in a 

 man's glove a statement which we must take cum grano salts. Gervase 

 Markham describes "the little Beagle which may be carried in a man's 

 glove " probably a mere quibble, the fact being that these dogs were bred 

 so small that one could be easily carried in a gloved hand. Whilst on 

 the subject of their size I may quote the following from the " Sportsman 

 Cabinet," published 1803 : "The late Col. Hardy had once a collection 

 of this diminutive tribe amounting to ten or twelve couple, which were 

 always carried to and from the field of glory in a large pair of panniers 

 slung across a horse ; small as they were and insignificant as they would 

 now seem, they could invariably keep a hare at all her shifts from 

 escaping them, and finally worry or rather tease her to death." 



Although Gervase Markham doubtless refers to the Beagles of the time 

 of Elizabeth, it is singular that Johannes Caius, in his ' ' English Dogges,' ' 

 does not mention the beagle, nor does he specially refer to any diminu- 

 tive hound, although he lived during the first fifteen years of Elizabeth's 

 reign, when dwarf " singing Beagles " are reported to have been popular. 



