British Dogs at Work 



speare was a true sportsman, understanding 

 well the noble art of venerie. Many writers 

 of lesser degree, however, have succeeded 

 in giving us verse that is more than 

 passably good, and no sporting library 

 can be deemed complete that has not 

 upon its shelves Somerville's The Chase 

 and Field Sports. The former, written in 

 blank verse in the early eighteenth cen- 

 tury, contains many shrewd reflections on 

 hounds and hound management, considered 

 sound enough for frequent quotation by 

 Peter Beckford in his classic Thoughts on 

 Hunting. Beckford himself writes with an 

 amount of literary distinction that is a 

 constant delight. Whyte-Melville, too, has 

 left us some poems that ring true. Who 

 can read "The Place where the old Horse 

 died " without a gulp in the throat ? And in 

 " The King of the Pack " he has given us a 

 vivid picture of what a good hound should 

 be like. 



So much has been written upon the sport 



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