116 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



nose, after all, is the grand desideratum. 

 Symmetry and colour are secondary con- 

 siderations ; but, of course, where the 

 fancy can be indulged, so much the better. 

 A friend of mine has a dog, and an excel- 

 lent one too, the breed of which it would 

 be difficult to trace, and I suspect would 

 even puzzle that indefatigable philoso- 

 pher, Mr. Joseph Hume himself, to dis- 

 cover. I almost blush to write it, but 

 this said animal was begotten, j^ar hasard, 

 by a large wire-haired sheep-dog out of 

 a pointer bitch, which had incautiously 

 been taken into the field at an improper 

 period ; but a better dog than one of the 

 offspring of which I am speaking never 

 stood to covey. From whence he derived 

 his numerous good qualities must be left 

 for wiser heads than mine to determine. 

 He had most superexcellent gifts, — 

 courage, speed, steadiness, and an exqui- 

 site nose, and no day was too long for hira. 



