$8 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 



strongly upon it, and favours your argument that such is the case. 

 In the course of my life it is natural to suppose that I have had 

 a vast number of dead foxes in my hands, both before and after 

 they have been broken up by hounds. I can safely assert, that 

 en my return home, the smell left upon them by some foxes has 

 been got rid of with only a slight washing, whereas that left by 

 others has continued till the next day." This I consider to be in 

 part confirmatory of my notion that the strength of the effluvia 

 emitted by foxes varies to a considerable extent, but I shall have 

 much more powerful reasons to offer for it, when I take up my 

 pen on the subject. 



To return to the arm-chair and to the reminiscence of two or 

 three hours' as interesting conversation as I ever chanced to be 

 engaged in. " You noticed to me," said Williamson, " a fine 

 bitch called Heiress." " I did," was my reply, "for she struck 

 me as being a perfect specimen of the modern fox-hound." " I 

 will tell you a story about her," resumed Williamson. " A young 

 man came to the kennel, one day lately, expressing a wish to see 

 the hounds, and declaring himself to be a disciple of Messrs. 

 Gall and Spurzheim, and consequently a believer in the new- 

 fashioned doctrine of phrenology." " And pray," inquired I, 

 "what was the result of his examination of the various skulls?" 

 " A most unfortunate one," answered Williamson. " He selected 

 two, one as the best and another as the worst-scenting hounds in 

 the whole pack naming Heiress as the latter. Now it so hap- 

 pens, that the one he selected as the best is nearly the worst in 

 the kennel ; and a better-nosed bitch than Heiress no man ever 

 holloaed to, or saw." So much then for phrenological develop- 

 ments, as regards the canine race, and for my own part, I have 

 "but little faith in them in the human. Of all the parts of the 

 body, the anatomy of the brain is the most complex, and the 

 most able physiologist of the day cannot determine its organs. 

 But this convert to the fanciful theory should have looked for 

 .ther developments in fox-hounds than the mere faculty of smell- 

 ing, and such instinctive faculties ; for the organs of combative- 

 Bess and destructiveness ; for those of murder and theft, and 

 other brute feelings. The physiognomist, I should imagine, 

 to have a better chance in a kennel, as all sportsmen allow 

 Hiere is much in the countenance of a dog, and what is called " a 

 thorough fox-hound head? is very indicative of goodness. Surely 

 the doctrine of Gall and Spurzheim has lived its little hour. 



One distinguishing feature in the character of Williamson is 

 what is termed good management, in other words, economy in 

 the distribution of expense. "What a Chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer he would make ! ;; we hear one man say. " He would be 



