THE BLOODHOUND 69 



Black hounds, called St. Huberts, are described as mighty of 

 body, with legs low and short, not swift in work, but of good scent. 

 The following couplet shows that the St. Hubert hounds were 

 highly thought of: 



My name 'came first from holy Hubert's race ; 

 Soygllard my sire, a hound of singular grace. 



The Count le Couteulx de Canteleu, in his work " Les Races de 

 Chiens Courans Frangais," says : " The hounds of St. Hubert, 

 famous since the eighth century, under the name of Flemish Hounds, 

 were divided into two varieties, the black and the white. The most 

 esteemed was the black variety, and the abbots of the St. Hubert 

 Monastery preserved the breed in memory of their founder. They 

 were generally black, running into tan, tan markings over the eye, 

 and feet the same colour; long ears. 



Descendants of the white St. Huberts existed in the Duke of 

 Lorraine's hounds, spoken of by Ligniville ; Salno also mentions 

 the existence of the black and the white St. Huberts in their native 

 country, the Ardennes. 



In 1620 we have an account of two packs of the black and 

 tan St. Huberts belonging to the Cardinal de Guise and the Marquis 

 of Souvray. The St. Huberts were transported to England at the 

 time of the Conquest, and Henri IV. presented a team to James I. 

 From about 1200 to the year 1789 the abbots of the St. Hubert 

 Monastery annually supplied the royal kennels of France with three 

 couples of black and tan St. Hubert hounds, which were used as 

 limiers, and were very greatly prized. At the end of Louis XIV. 's 

 reign, according to Gaffet de la Briffardiere, they were preserved 

 by gentlemen in the north of France for their all-round hunting 

 capacities. By the time of D'Yauville the breed had become 

 rare." 



There is no higher living authority on the question than the 

 Count, and he has no doubt that the Bloodhound was derived from 

 the St. Hubert. He considers that at the time when fox-hunting 

 in something like its present form was first instituted, the Sleuth- 

 hound, or hound of the country, was not found fast enough, and 

 crosses were made with the Greyhound and other breeds, and 

 gradually the present Foxhound was evolved. During this transition 

 it became customary, when speaking of the hound of the country 

 (as distinct from the Foxhound), to allude to him as the Bloodhound, 

 meaning the hound of pure blood, just as we speak of a blood 

 horse. 



Writers are apt to lay too much stress on colour, and, in 

 studying this question, it must not be forgotten that black and tan 

 combined are colours common to almost every breed : Spaniels, 

 Setters, Collies, Terriers, and even Greyhounds, have been known 



