300 The Hunting Field With Horse and Hound 



commanded certain French gentlemen to go to England to 

 teach the lords and nobles of that country the true principles of 

 stag hunting. 



Under Louis XIII the Royal hounds consisted of two 

 packs. They were known as the "Great White dogs of the 

 King," and the "Small White dogs of the King." The great 

 stag hunter, King Louis XIV, had a hundred of these hounds, 

 and under Louis XV they numbered one hundred and tliirty- 

 two. 



These hounds are mostly white, with light fawn markings, 

 of medium size. They seem to be a distinct family, as they 

 have little or no resemblance to either the present French or 

 English hounds. Some of them seem to show the effects of in- 

 and-in breeding, but as a rule, they are a very uniform and 

 beautiful lot, that are worth going a long distance to see. 



Luncheon and the inspection of the hounds over, the vener- 

 able Master sounds the horn as a signal for moving on to covert, 

 and we look about for the two-wheeled cart, which the Baron 

 de Dorlodot said he would wire to have in waiting. Imagine 

 the writer's surprise to see the Baron making for a big, lumber- 

 ing, two-wheeled cart, a sort of gig; at least it had a top let 

 down for the occasion, and was hung on platform springs. The 

 wheels of this cart were quite heavy enough for a farm wagon, 

 the shafts were large poles of natural second growth oak, while 

 between them was a great white Percheron stallion, over six- 

 teen hands Iiigh, who would weigh something like sixteen hun- 

 dred pounds. The trap was about half that weight and the 

 three occupants added at least five hundred more. The turnout 

 figured out something like this, a sixteen hundred pound horse 

 to a thirteen hundred pound load. 



"Fancy," said the writer to himself, "our trying to keep the 

 pace of a pack of hounds after deer, in such a turnout as this!" 

 The whole thing seemed such a burlesque, that the writer never 

 expected to see even the tail of a crippled hound. He felt sure 



