THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 33 



with regard to a cross with the bloodhound has given 

 me more incHnatlon to that, than to a water-spaniel, as 

 an improvement in fox-hunting ; and that in this, as in 

 many more instances where the benefit of change is not 

 duly obvious, I should be for letting " well alone." 



Upon my succession to the country, I received a very 

 kind letter from Mr. Smith, inquiring after his protegee. 

 Wisdom, which was then still, and may be now, in 

 Mr, Sebright's possession, and offering to assist me in 

 carrying further the proposed scheme for improving the 

 breed of hounds. I replied, that, till I had reason to 

 believe any animal had been bred to equal a thorough- 

 bred foxhound, I should beg to prefer that description 

 to any mongrel in the scale of creation ; and by this 

 f\iith and opinion shall I still, for the present, abide. 

 I would, therefore, earnestly advise any young gentleman 

 who may succeed me in Hertfordshire, or any man 

 undertaking to hunt any country, to stick to the best 

 Mood ; and, moreover, to spare no pains in obtaining it, 

 wherever it is to be found. He may then, eventually, 

 have the satisfaction of showing a pack which, in shape 

 and make, will prove their high breeding. To sum up 

 my advice, as to the well-bred and well-shaped hound 

 I would have him maintain in our country, I will say — 

 supposing him to have drafts from various kennels, or to 

 have the choice of so many, of his own breeding, that he is 

 unlimited in numbers, requiring not more than fifty or 

 sixty couples for service — draft freely. Never keep a 

 hound with faulty shape, on account of his pedigree ; still 



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