INTRODUCTION xiii 



go a bit faster than, and had as much drive as herself. She became jealous, 

 and played the tricks I have described. She knew every covert and where 

 to go, and time after time, served by her fine nose, slipped away mute ; five 

 other hounds copied her manoeuvres and it became imperative to draft all 

 three couple.' 



In Beckford's experience these troubles arose among hounds when they 

 were left behind in covert : to-day they are the outcome of superior nose, 

 drive and keenness, with jealousy thrown in. He writes of the ' obstinate ' 

 and ' conceited ' (i.e. independent) hound, and of the infectious nature 

 of his faults ; but he nowhere refers to the jealousy which is so marked in 

 modern hounds. Is it too much to suppose that this fault has grown up 

 with greater development of the good qualities drive, speed, keenness 

 and nose ? 



One of the arguments urged (Letter XVII) against suffering hounds 

 to tie upon the scent has lost some of its force in our time : ' it teaches 

 them to run dog.' When Beckford wrote the country was afflicted with 

 a veritable plague of vagrant curs which roamed at their own sweet will and 

 constituted something more than a chance hindrance to sport. During 

 the latter part of the eighteenth century ownerless and neglected dogs 

 were become a serious consideration in the calculations of the farmer : 

 we find them referred to 1 as ' that curse to the sheep-farmer.' When 

 these creatures might be encountered a dozen times during the day's sport, 

 it can be readily understood that hounds which acquired the habit of run- 

 ning a scent foiled by the body of the pack, would only too readily ' run 

 dog ' if they chanced to hit off the line of some vagrant cur. 



In Letter XVIII Beckford expresses his regret at news that his im- 

 aginary correspondent's hounds have been killing sheep ; and it appears 

 from his subsequent remarks that sheep killing was not uncommon, though 

 less known in some countries than in others. If quantity and temptation 

 bear relation to one another the idle or vicious fox-hound of those days 

 might plead frequency of the latter ; the sheep population of England 

 was estimated at twenty-six millions : at the present time it is about 

 nineteen millions. The master who turned into his kennel a ram to buffet 

 the hounds into respect for mutton was on the right track, even though 

 the experiment ended so unfortunately for the ram. The late Mr. Henry 

 East succeeded in steadying his bloodhounds from sheep by putting a 

 ewe among the young entry in the kennels and keeping her there. No 

 doubt she was less combative than the ram mentioned by Beckford, but 

 she never hesitated to butt a hound off the bench if she wanted his place, 

 and her high-handed methods were never resented. In the field the pack 

 would follow the ' clean boot ' past a flock without taking the slightest 

 notice. 



1 Annals of Agriculture. 



