56 DOMESTICATED HUNTING-DOGS. 



with tlie great judgment wliich has been displayed in the most 

 celebrated kennels of the present century, it can scarcely occasion 

 surprise that the combination has resulted in the most complete 

 success. In breeding cattle and sheep one man has in more than 

 one instance, during his single life, effected a complete revolution 

 in the animal he was engaged in improving ; and therefore, when 

 a number of gentlemen combine for one purpose, and spare neither 

 time, money, nor trouble, we ought to expect the fulfilment of 

 their wishes. In no department of rural sports has so much been 

 written as on fox-hunting, and this not only of late years, but for 

 the last three centuries, during which Markham, Somerville, and 

 Beckford may be instanced as examples of truthful as well as clever 

 writing on the subject. Beckford, who wrote in the latter part of 

 the last century, his first letter being dated 1779, is, however, the 

 father of the modern school, and, with slight exceptions, the hound 

 described by him is stilVthat selected by our best masters, though 

 perhaps they carry out his principles to a greater extent than he 

 ever expected they would go. Much has been written, it is true, 

 since his time, but I am not aware that any one has deviated from 

 his description without doing wrong, and therefore, as I like to 

 give credit where credit is due, I shall extract his description 

 entire, as contained in his third letter to his friend. 



" You desire to know what kind of hound I would recommend. 

 As you mention not for any particular chase or country, I under- 

 stand you generally ; and shall answer that I most approve of 

 hounds of the middle size. I believe all animals of that description 

 are strongest, and best able to endure fatigue. In the height as 



