LETTER IV. 



THE HOUNDS AND HORSES. 



HATEVER might have been the style of 

 hound with which Mr. Chute began his fox- 

 hunting career, he had brought them to the 

 standard which he desired before I began to 

 observe them. Mr. Chute, though by no means a 

 good sportsman in the field, had a nice eye both for the 

 shape and the condition of a hound ; and, at any rate, 

 knew precisely the kind of animal which he himself 

 preferred ; and certainly he succeeded in breeding a 

 pack peculiar in their shape and character, and ex- 

 ceedingly well adapted for the country in which they 

 were to work. They were very small, or, at least, very 

 low. The dogs were about twenty-one inches in height, 

 the bitches about nineteen or twenty, though I have 

 known him enter some much lower. But, as it has 

 often been said that the size of a horse has little to 

 do with his height, so the real power of Mr. Chute's 

 hounds was far greater than these measurements 

 would indicate. They were long and deep in the 

 body, with backs slightly arched, excellent fore-legs 

 and feet, and the very best set of loins and thighs that 

 I ever saw got together. They were all bone and 

 muscle, without any lumber to carry , and I never 



