FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



as for the unnecessary bone. The Brocklesby 

 Rallywood was light-boned, and stood back at 

 the knee, and yet we are told he was one of the 

 best in his work, with stamina, courage, and 

 all the qualities that go to the making of a really 

 great hound. He lived in a day when hounds 

 were quite as fast if not faster than they are 

 now, and if he satisfied the great hound-breeders 

 of that time, breeders who knew quite as much 

 about the requisite qualities in a hound as do 

 their descendants, the changes that have taken 

 place in the anatomical formation of the hound 

 since Rallywood' s day cannot have had their 

 origin in an idea to improve working qualities ; 

 but rather because fashion ordained that certain 

 points as we now see them were simply " more 

 pleasing to the eye." 



The same author tells us that when Will Goodall 

 was huntsman of the Pytchley, he borrowed a 

 couple of cross-bred Welsh hounds from Mr. 

 F. Lort Phillips, master of the Pembrokeshire. 

 On the worst scenting days the Welsh-bred bitch 

 Dimple could hold the line and get away in the 

 lead. Here we have a hound that was no doubt 

 lacking in bone, and back at the knee, yet able to 

 go one better than the English fox-hounds of a 

 famous and fashionable pack; yet Mr. Bradley 

 says " but so far as Welsh blood and character- 

 istics of make and shape are concerned, it is not 

 a desirable source for an out-cross, if the beau- 

 tiful conformation of the English fox-hounds 

 counts for anything." Here we have the modern 

 fashionable breeder's view-point in a nutshell. 

 As long as a hound looks pretty and takes the eye, 

 and has bone below the knee, he is able to win 

 prizes at Peterborough, and when he and his kind 

 are sold they fetch top prices. In the field 



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