SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 439 



kennel diet. And there is another consideration of 

 far greater consequence than the support of a useless 

 number of hounds. Exyerientia docet. The longer 

 a foxhound can hold his place in the pack, the more 

 valuable he becomes. What a lot of teasers would 

 that prove, consisting of six and seven-year-old 

 hounds in their integrity ! No fox would be so 

 strong, no day so long, no scent so bad that these 

 veterans could not cope with ; and then the luxur}^ 

 the complacency, the entire confidence with which 

 we regard their proceedings can be appreciated only 

 by those who have sat in a huntsman^s saddle. 



My brave old hound, my bonny old bound, 



Here's a health, here's a health to thee ! 

 And as years roll round, may'st thou still be found 



Alongside in the chase with me. 

 Many's the day we have hunted away, 



And many's the track we have set ; 

 And now I am told, that thou'rt grown old — 



But there's life in the old hound yet. 



How oft has thy voice made the hunters rejoice, 

 When its deep mellow tones were heard ; 



For well did they know that thy startled foe 

 Must go his best pace on the sward ; 



Thou hast followed the chase with untiling pace 

 From morn till the sun has set. 



Thou hast lain at my feet, when thy heart scarcely beat- 

 But there's life in the old hound yet. 



Once did I think, when on the steep brink 



Of a dark shining rock thou stood, 

 That thy race was run, that thy life was done, 



As thou leapt o'er the yawning flood ; 

 When thou fell on the rocks with the beaten fox 



I thought a hard fate thou hadst met ; 

 But we found thee below with thy conquered foe. 



Aye — and life in the old hound yet. 



