DOGS. 91 



possessed a greyhound which always took care of thQ 

 meat in the kitchen, and defended it from cats and 

 other dogs. 



The rough, large-boned, ill-looking Lurcher, is said 

 to have descended from the rough greyhound and the 

 shepherd's dog. It is now rare ; but there are some 

 of its sinister-looking mongrel progeny still to be seen. 

 They always bear the reputation of being poachers' dogs, 

 and are deeply attached to their owners. They have a 

 fine scent ; and a man confessed to Mr. Bewick, that he 

 could, with a pair of lurchers, procure as many rabbits 

 as he pleased. They never give tongue, but set about 

 their work silently and cautiously, and hunt hares and 

 partridges, driving the latter into the nets of the un- 

 lawful sportsmen. They will even pull down deer. 



There are still many English hearts which beat 

 quicker at the cry of the hound; there are some old 

 ones which throb at the recollection of the well-ap- 

 pointed field, when the bugle summoned them to the 

 chase, when gallant steeds carried them over gate, 

 hedge, ditch, and river; they even glory when they 

 refer to fearful tumbles, barely escaping with life, and 

 some meeting with a death next in honour, according to 

 their notions, to that of a soldier in action. There are 

 some young ones who listen with entranced ears to the 

 deeds of their forefathers, and, amidst the toil of the 

 dark counting-house, wish that such times would come 

 for them. They never will come again ; railroads have 

 been invented; men's minds have been diverted into 

 other channels ; and fox-hunting, with its concomitant 

 evils and its attendant pleasures, is gradually disap- 

 pearing from fox-hunting England. Some, on whom 

 the spirit of Nimrod has descended with such force as 



