THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 31 



Hertfordshire, I was surprised by the appearance, amidst 

 the entry for that season, of a large, leggy, black-and- 

 tanned bitch, called (perhaps in compliment to her pedi- 

 gree) Wisdom. Without any particular faultiness in 

 shape, she was, in my eyes, and in those of others seeing 

 objects in a similar light, exactly the animal, of all others, 

 to destroy the appearance of a whole pack. Frequently 

 have I heard it inquired, by strangers, whence the 

 creature might have strayed ; nay, I remember, upon one 

 occasion, to have seen some well-meaning and kindly 

 officious of the field actually riding at her, with that 

 cracking of whips, and ratings of, " Go along home,'' with 

 which a stray guardian of the sheepfold is usually 

 saluted. She had certainly nearly as much resemblance 

 to a retriever as to any of her associates. Now this 

 Wisdom was the enfant cherie of the season — the result 

 of an experiment which was to eclipse the blood of 

 " old Meynell" and to throw such a gleam of intelligence 

 upon the science of breeding as should cast into deep 

 shade the errors of .all former ages : she was to be the 

 shining evidence and manifestation of a new light. 



I am not making this relation sarcastically or imper- 

 tinently, as a piece of irrelevant gossip, but as matter 

 highly pertinent to a chapter upon hounds; which, 

 I think, all will allow, when I say that this experiment 

 was made by the Professor of whom I have before 

 spoken as a master of hounds — Mr. Smith, late master 

 of the Craven. It consisted in the cross of a blood- 

 hound with a foxhound bitch. It v/as nothing extra- 



