THE MODERN FOXHOUND 



CHAPTER XI 



THE history of the modern foxhound's develop- 

 ment has been thoroughly dealt with by 

 many noted authorities on the chase, so we 

 shall only briefly refer to it here, preferring rather 

 to discuss the various points of the present 

 standard type with regard to its working ability 

 in the field. Somewhere about 1750, Mr. Hugo 

 Meynell was responsible for a quickening up of the 

 then slow method of fox-hunting, and in con- 

 junction with Squire Childe and Mr. John 

 Musters, he evolved a proper method of breeding 

 and kennel management. Later, the system of 

 hunting was revolutionised by Squire Osbaldeston 

 when Master of the Quorn, hounds being bred for 

 speed, while quickness and decision played a great 

 part in the successful conduct of the chase by 

 those in authority. It was during the first 

 quarter of the eighteenth century that the fore- 

 most breeders of that day established the present 

 shape and character of the foxhound, and breed- 

 ing on such lines has been carried on until we see 

 its final culmination represented by the type of 

 hound annually exhibited at Peterborough show. 

 Turning back to the past history of the leading 

 English kennels, from which are descended the 

 chief strains of blood of the present day, it will be 

 found that hounds were then much smaller than 

 they are now, and that they differed to some ex- 

 tent in certain points of their anatomy. The 



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