THE PACK. 243 



estimation. They are bred by the fierce nation of 

 painted Britons, who call them Agassaeus ; in size 

 they resemble worthless greedy house dogs that 

 gape under tables. They are crooked, lean, coarse 

 haired, and dull eyed, but armed with powerful claws 

 and deadly teeth. The Agassaeus is of most 

 excellent nose, not only sagacious in finding the 

 track of animals, but skilful to discover the aerial 

 odour." 



Our Saxon and Danish forefathers probably 

 brought some hounds with them when they settled 

 in the country, and these crossed with the indigenous 

 race — the Agassaei — formed the hounds with which 

 they hunted up to the time of the Norman Conquest. 



The Normans no doubt introduced hounds from 

 France, hounds which, as we have seen, contained 

 an admixture of British blood. At this time, and for 

 several centuries afterwards, France was the acknow- 

 ledged home of hunting, and the source from which 

 all hunting lore sprang. And although it may seem 

 certain that hounds in England still contained a 

 strong basis of indigenous blood, it is to France one 

 must look to see what strains were in most repute 

 for hunting, and therefore would be the most likely 

 to be imported into this country. 



The earliest authentic information on this subject 

 is derived from the MS. work of Gaston de Foix, 

 the illustrations to which have been admirably 

 reproduced by Mr. and Mrs. Baillie Grohman in 

 their beautiful edition of " The Master of Game." 



R 2 



