50 DOMESTICATED HUNTIXG-DOGS. 



to it. Let his legs be straight as arrows, his feet round and not too 

 large ; his shoulders back ; his breast rather wide than narrow ; bis 

 chest deep ; his back broad ; his head small ; his neck thin ; his tail 

 thick and brushy ; if he carry it well, so much the better. Such 

 hounds as are out at the elbows, and such as are weak from the 

 knees to the foot, should never be taken into the pack. 



" I find that I have mentioned a small head as one of the neces- 

 sary requisites of a hound ; but you will understand that it is 

 relative to beauty only, for as to goodness, I believe large-headed 

 hounds are in no wise inferior. The color I think of little mo- 

 ment, and am of opinion with our friend Foote, respecting his 

 negro friend, that a good dog, like a good candidate, cannot be of 

 a bad color. 



" Men are too apt to be prejudiced by the sort of hound which they 

 themselves have been most accustomed to. Those who have been 

 used to the sharp-nosed foxhound, will hardly allow a large-head- 

 ed hound to be a foxhound ; yet they both equally are ; speed and 

 beauty are the chief exc2lleucies of the one, while stoutness and 

 tenderness of nose in hunting are characteristic of the other. I 

 could tell you that I have seen veiy good sport with very unhand- 

 some packs, consisting of hounds of various sizes, differing from 

 one another as much in shape and look as in their color ; nor could 

 there be traced the least sign of consanguinity amongst them. 

 Considered separately the hounds were good; as a pack of hounds 

 they were not to be commended ; nor would you be satisfied with 

 anything that looked so very incomplete. You will find nothing 

 so essential to your sport as that your hounds should run well 

 together; nor can this end be better attained than by confining 

 yourself, as near as you can, to those of the same sort, size, and 

 shape." 



Thus then as to points, it will be evident from the above extract 

 that Beckford was fully aware of all which are considered essential 

 to the foxhound, except the depth of the back ribs, in which the 

 modern hound differs from both of his supposed progenitors (the 

 greyhound and old-fashioned hound), and which has been estab- 

 lished by carefully breeding from sires and dams peculiar for this 



