THE BLOODHOUND. 



141 



Indeed, the very name of the dog calls up 

 visions of feudal castles, with their trains 

 of knights and warriors and all the stirring 

 panorama of these brave days of old, when 

 the only tenure of life, property, or goods 

 was by the strong hand. In the stories 

 of Border forays, the Bloodhound constantly 



St. Huberts, are supposed to have been 

 brought by pilgrims from the Holy Land. 

 Another larger breed, also known by the 

 same name, were pure white, and another 

 kind were greyish-red. The dogs of the 

 present day are probably a blend of all these 

 varieties. 



HUNTSMEN ROASTING A WILD BOAR. 



From a French Tapestry of the Fifteenth Century. Showing Bloodhounds of the period, and, also, 



in the background, a Hunting Dog in Armour. 



appears in pursuit of enemies and " fol- 

 lowing gear," and great was the renown of 

 him who 



" By wily turns and desperate bounds. 

 Had baffled Percy's best bloodhounds." 



This feudal dog is frequently pictured by 

 the poet in his ballads and romances, and 

 in "The Lady of the Lake" we find the 

 breed again mentioned : 



" Two dogs of black St. Hubert's breed, 

 Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed, 

 Fast on his flying traces came. 

 And all but won the desperate game : 

 For scarce a spear's length from his haunch 

 Vindictive toiled the bloodhounds staunch." 



These famous black Bloodhounds, called 



During the French Wars of Henry VIII. 

 Bloodhounds were regularly employed, as 

 they were also by the Spaniards in Mexico 

 and Peru. In the days of Queen Elizabeth, 

 it is said, eight hundred Bloodhounds 

 accompanied the forces of the Earl of Essex 

 in suppressing the Irish Rebellion. In 

 later times they became the terror of the 

 deer stealer and the cattle lifter, and for 

 this purpose were maintained by the Earls of 

 Buccleuch on their Border estates till late in 

 the eighteenth century. So skilful were they 

 that when one of them got fairly on the 

 track of a fugitive his escape was all but 

 impossible. 



The Bloodhound, from the nobler pur- 

 suit of heroes and knights, came in later 

 years to perform the work of the more 



