HOUNDS FOR DIFFERENT PURSUITS 23 



I should expect not only a particular kind of hound as 

 to make, size, and strength, (by which the fox-hound 

 is easy to be distinguished) ; but I should also expect 

 by fox-hunting, a lively, animated, and eager pursuit, 

 as the very essence of it." 



Somerville recommends distinct packs of hounds for 

 the chase of different animals. He says : — 



" A diff'rent hound for ev'ry diff'rcnt chase 

 Select with judgment; nor the tini'rous hare 

 O'ermatch'd destroy . . . 



* * * * * * * 



But husband thou thy pleasures, and give scope 

 To all her subtle play; by nature led, 

 A thousand shifts she tries; t'unravel these, 

 Th' industrious beagle twists his waving tail, 

 Thro' all her labyrinths pursues and rings 

 Her doleful knell." 



It is quite evident that some masters of hounds had 

 made the discovery, ere the poet penned those lines, 

 that it was desirable to keep their hounds to one kind 

 of game. 



The noble family of Berkeley have been famous for 

 their hounds of all sorts and love of sport from the 

 time of William the Conqueror to the present day. The 

 earliest record from which I have been able to gain in- 

 formation is, I understand from good authority, 

 mentioned in Smith's MS., which states, " When Lord 

 Berkeley kept thirty huntsmen in ' tawny coats,' and 

 his hounds at the village of Charing, now Charing Cross, 

 in the middle of London, and hunted in that vicinity." 

 What animals they were in the habit of hunting I am 

 not able to state ; probably, deer, boarsi, and wolves, as 

 it was the custom to destroy ferocious beasts. Viewing 

 London in its present condition, it seems strange to 

 associate wild beasts and hunting with those parts 

 which are surrounded for miles with human habitations ; 

 although a furious elephant, an inmate of Cross's mena- 

 gerie, was shot as recently as the year 1826, close to the 



