Fox-hwtting Past and Present 



Directly hunting was over^ he galloped home on his 

 hack ; the whips returning with hounds. Nimrod, 

 we read, considered the finest run that could be 

 ridden would be from Billesdon Coplow to Ranks- 

 borough. 



P. Beckford tells us, hounds will always go to 

 any one who shows them sport in preference to a 

 person who feeds them. He thought a thin neck 

 was a recommendation. Mr. Smith liked ^^ throaty 

 hounds," for he considered that by getting rid of 

 the throat, the nose also disappears, and a throaty 

 hound invariably had a good nose. Mr. Smith's 

 Nelson, formerly the Duke of Rutland's, was 

 the perfect model of a foxhound of that day : he 

 answered to Hugo Meynell's well-known descrip- 

 tion of his ideal hound : ^' Short back, open bosom, 

 straight legs, and compact feet." Again, Beckford's 

 ideal during a previous epoch to Meynell's was : 

 '* Let his legs be as straight as arrows, his feet 

 round and not too large, his chest deep and back 

 broad, his head small, his neck slim, his tail thick 

 and bushy ; if he carries it well, so much the 

 better." Judges of the foxhound there are not a few, 

 and breeders and enthusiasts several score to-day 

 with whom these ideals probably still hold good. 



To-day the breed probably stands as near per- 

 fection as it can, and I gather that F. Gillard's 

 record of foxes killed with the Belvoir hinges on 



that, and will take some beating for all time. From 



n8 



