434 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



CHAPTER LI. 



THE LAST OF HIS ENTRY. 



We are instigated by no idle curiosity to inquire 

 what becomes of " the brave old hound^ the bonny 

 old hound/^ who has spent the best years of his 

 hard-worked life in the service of his master ; who 

 has been petted, and cheered — and painted too, 

 perhaps, in his prime — depended upon for his wel- 

 come note in later years, when, save for old Solon, 

 everything would have gone wrong. What, we ask, 

 is the fate of this old favourite and faithful hound 

 when his strength and power fail ? Is he rewarded 

 as he ought to be ? Does he retire, when unfitted 

 for active life, to enjoy some otium cum dignitate ? 

 Is not more often a halter provided for him than a 

 home ? Or is he nof bundled out of the kennel, 

 with what is called the old draft hounds, which have 

 done amiss, and shipped for the Continent or India, 

 to undergo tortures and ill-usage worse than death. 

 Evil-doers must, we know, be drafted, and some 

 hounds will go wrong, even in their fourth or fifth 

 season ; but, for the faultless and faithful, against 

 whom no other charge can be preferred except that 

 common to man as well as to any other animal in 

 the creation — old age, surely some consideration 

 ought to be found befitting a master's gratitude for 



