159 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE HOUNDS. 



" AnJ cilice we have llie va'ward of the day. 

 My love shall hear the music of my hounds. 

 Uncouple in the western valley ; go. — 

 Despatch, I say, and find tiie forester. — 

 We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top, 

 And mark the musical confusion 

 Of hounds and echo in conjunction." 



MiiisitiitiiHT Xight's Dicaiii. act iv, scciil' i. 



The name " hound " is apphed generally to all dogs used in hunting, but 

 particularly to those that hunt by scent and in packs. This rule would 

 exclude ihe greyhound la name, by the way, which does not signify colour, 

 but is from an old Icelandish word, meaning dog). The greyhound liunts 

 by sight, and was formerly called a "gazehound" ; it should be classed with 

 setters, pointers, retrievers, and other si)orting dogs, which cannot be said to 

 hunt their game in the chase. 



The origin of hounds, from which have arisen those we have at the 

 present day, is somewhat obscure. The foxhound, the beagle, and the 

 liarrier, are certainly descended from the same stock, and as hare-hunting is 

 a more ancient sport than fox-hunting, it is probable that the earliest pack of 

 fo.xhounds was selected from harrier packs, which again had been originally 

 selected from the more ancient packs of beagles. 



The name beagle seems to be of doubtful etymology. Some authoriiies 

 give its derivation as from the French word '• />ig/c' ;" but there can be little 

 doubt, with all due deference to the lexicographers, that the French merely 

 adopted our word beagle with their own spelling. Ogilvie's Imperial 

 Dictionary gives the probable derivation as the Celtic word " bcag," signify- 

 ing — little. Historians say that beagles were bred in ancient Britain, whence 

 they were imported into Italy, being much valued by the Romans. A classical 

 writer of the second century, Arrian, describes the " agatcoiis,'" or beagle, 

 as follows : — 



They are not less clever at hunting on scent than the Carian and Cretan, 

 but in shape sorry brutes. In pursuit, these give tongue with a clanging howl, 

 like the yelping Carians, but are more eager when they catch the scent. Some- 

 times, indeed, they gladden so outrageously, even on a stale trail, that I have 

 rated them for their excessive barking, alike on every scent, whether it be the 

 hare going to form or at speed. In pursuing and recovering her when started, 

 they are not inferior to the Cariuus or Cretans, save in one point, that of speed. 



