INTRODUCTION xi 



need not hesitate to say, multitude of councillors to perplex the would-be 

 fox-hound breeder. ' Men are too apt,' says Beckford, ' 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 fox-hound will hardly allow 

 a large-headed hound to be a fox-hound : yet they both equally are.' 



The writer's sturdy independence of character is reflected in his attitude 

 towards this matter ; one of the most familiar of his incisive sayings occurs 

 in connexion with hound breeding and, having glanced at the variety of 

 material available, we recognize that when he wrote, ' It is the judicious cross 

 that makes the pack complete,' the aphorism meant vastly more then, than 

 it means now. Let us follow up the writer 



' The faults and imperfections in one breed may be rectified from 

 another : and if this be properly attended to I see no reason why the breeding 

 of hounds may not improve till improvement can go no further.' 



This utterance, guardedly prophetic, is that of a discerning and far- 

 sighted man convinced that when the right blend of several breeds should be 

 made the true fox-hound would result. He had never hunted with any of 

 the leading packs of the day and he was manifestly working out the problem 

 on his own lines. 



He had still a good deal to achieve. In Letter XV he says, ' Could a 

 fox-hound distinguish a hunted fox as the deer-hound does the deer that is 

 blown, fox-hunting would then be perfect.' Does not this indicate the 

 then comparatively undeveloped state of the fox-hound ? It is known now 

 that there exists between the scent of one fox and another a subtle difference ; 

 for though hounds will only too readily forsake the failing scent of a beaten 

 fox for the stronger scent of a fresh one when opportunity occurs, there are 

 individual hounds, generally staunch old ones, who stick to the hunted fox. 

 The best among the hounds Beckford knew had not acquired the delicacy 

 of nose he held would make fox-hunting perfect ; breeders were still in the 

 experimental stages. How catholic were the ideas of some who sought the 

 perfect hound we may judge from Beckford's statement that he had seen 

 ' fox-hounds ' got by a fox-hound dog from a Newfoundland dam ! We 

 laugh at so bizarre a mating now, but the author describes the defects of 

 the progeny in a serious spirit. 



He was still working at the problem of making a fox-hound out of the 

 various materials to his hand when he wrote his book. At a later date he 

 was at pains to use the best blood he could procure ; the picture of his Crazy, 

 Blameless, Brilliant and Pillager painted by Sartorius x bears particulars of 

 their breeding which prove that he went to considerable trouble to choose 



1 There were four animal painters of the name father, son, grandson and great-grand- 

 son ; the painter of the work at Steepleton was probably John H. Sartorius who was born 

 about 1755, and died about 1828. John N. Sartorius, by the way, painted a portrait of 

 Bluecap ; see Animal Painters of England, Vol. II, by Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. 



