Historical 33 



In his book on the dog, Jesse gives a curious correspon- 

 dence from James V. of Scotland to the Archdeacon of the 

 East Riding, on the subject of his desire to procure blood- 

 hounds trained to ride on a saddle on a horse behind a 

 man. His mother, Queen Margaret, seemed equally 

 interested in the quest for such dogs, and also writes to the 

 Archdeacon from Edinburgh. It seems uncertain as to 

 what was in their minds, in desiring the dogs to ride in this 

 position, but Jesse suggests that : " These were perhaps 

 to be taken up when the tracks of the marauders pursued 

 were plainly visible in soft ground. Swift pursuit was then 

 made, till hard ground was come to, when the slow hound 

 was dropped again to pick up the trail." 



If this was the idea, it was a strange one, as the hounds 

 could easily have kept up with the horsemen by galloping 

 alongside ; and it would be next to impossible to get any 

 sort of saddle capable of holding the dog, or, for that 

 matter, a hound willing to sit on such a contrivance, even 

 though some such device could be invented. 



The correspondence is extremely quaint, and the polite 

 Archdeacon, in expressing his willingness to gratify the 

 desire of his Royal correspondents, conveys many fulsome 

 compliments, and while he does not in any way suggest that 

 the request cannot be complied with, seeks to pacify them 

 in the first place, by a gift of ordinary hounds for hunting 

 purposes, procured from his patron, the Duke of Richmond 

 and Somerset, who sent his own huntsman with them for 

 the space of a month, and, furthermore, promises that 

 inquiries will be made as to the possibility of procuring 

 such horseback hounds. I greatly fear he was not success- 

 ful in his search. 



/"Seeing that tracking was of such great importance at 

 this period of history, when the whole country was in a 



