CHAPTER XXI 

 THE BEAGLE 



THE Beagle is the foot hound of our country, indigenous to the 

 soil, and able to boast of an alliance with the sport-loving Britons 

 so far as we are able to trace back through the misty pages of 

 ancient history. It is at least probable that when the correct 

 hunting-costume of our forefathers was a coat of natural paint, 

 the Beagle even then was his favourite hound, for a translation 

 from the poet Appian, who wrote about the year 200, gives us 

 this version : 



There is a kind of dog of mighty fame 

 For hunting, worthier of a fairer frame ; 

 By painted Britons brave in war they're bred, 

 Are Beagles called, and to the chase are led ; 

 Their bodies small and of so mean a shape, 

 You'd think them curs that under tables gape. 



The "Agasscei" are also thus described in the " Venatiae 

 Novantiqua " : " They are very slender and small, and being much 

 like the hare, hunt them out in the burrows where they dwell. . . . 

 They are bred so that one hand may encompass the whole of their 

 body. . . .. They are great pets at the table, and it is a great 

 pleasure to them when they are led to the chase." 



Then we find the Forest Laws of King Canute prohibit dogs 

 within the Royal Forests, " except the Velterer, which the English 

 call Langehren [long eared], for manifestly they be too small to 

 do harm to the King's deer." Evidently there was a well-known, 

 popular breed in existence used in the forests, long of ear and too 

 small to injure the deer. We may believe it to be the Beagle at 

 all events, such evidence as there is points to the Britons being 

 assisted in the chase by a small breed of hounds admired and 

 coveted by the Romans. 



It is quite possible that the "Talbot" is the progenitor of 

 all our modern scent-hunting hounds. He may have been the 

 " Langehren " ; and as forest lands were cleared, he was bred faster 

 and larger, becoming the " Talbot," and eventually the " Foxhound," 



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