THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 21 



as the maximum of height. It is true that, for the strong 

 black-thorn woods of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, a 

 certain weight of substance is necessary, and with all my 

 admitted partiality for small hounds, there is no greater 

 advocate for bone and muscle ; but I have never lost 

 sight of the recorded opinion of the father of the science, 

 Mr. Meynell, — that the height of a hound had nothing to 

 do with his size. The breed of some veteran professors, 

 might, perhaps, do for some countries, but defend us 

 from lumber in any shape.* We have, near us, a fine 

 sample of a large pack, where a larger hound is abso- 

 lutely required, in the strong country, and almost impe- 

 netrable coverts, encountered by that good sportsman, 

 Mr. Barnett ; but he is unremitting in his attention to 

 shoulders, and that clean mould of limb which unites 

 activity with j^ower. I was forcibly struck by the justice 

 of a remark which he made to me one day last winter, 

 when we were discussing the merits of different packs 

 within our immediate notice, and the importance at- 

 tached, in the present flying, railroadian era, to the pace of 

 hounds. " Few people," said he, " consider sufficiently the 



* There can be no use in glossing over fact — I may be setting up compara- 

 tively new, in opposition to old and well received opinions, but it is, nevertheless, 

 a fact beyond dispute, that wherever the heavy breed of throaty hound has been 

 fairly tried, it has been found wanting ; wanting, not in the pottering power of 

 holding on the line, or rather of reiterating what has been proclaimed and 

 allowed long before, but wanting in speed, terribly deficient in stoutness, and 

 by no means superior in fineness of nose. Of all this, I might offer high 

 proof, but not without allusions savouring of personality. 



