652 The Dog Book 



A little more than a hundred years later we find the beagle still under 

 royal patronage and being hunted by George III. The Prince of Wales 

 also kept beagles at Brighton. It is said that the prince was painted on 

 horseback with his beagles, but it is possible this may be a mistake owing to 

 the fact of his being better known as hunting beagles than was his father. 

 We are of the opinion that the illustration we give is the one referred to as of 

 George IV, from references to the height of the hounds made in comments 

 on the picture. This, however, is his father, as it appears in the volume of 

 "Sporting Anecdotes,*' second edition, 1807, which leads off with a sketch 

 entitled "His majesty, as a sportsman," and George III. was then "his maj- 

 esty." Below this illustration and connected with it the page is filled out 

 with a view of Windsor Park, with the castle in the distance, evidently added 

 to show that it was at Windsor that the hunting was done. 



Of the Prince of Wales's beagles we have a brief description in Colonel 

 Thornton's Sporting Tour through France, as he took passage from Brigh- 

 ton and while there visited the kennels and described what he saw as follows: 

 "You are perfectly aware of my partiality for everything referring to the 

 chase, and that predeliction naturally led me to inspect the Prince of Wales's 

 dog kennels, but more particularly his dwarf beagles, which were originally 

 of the same breed as my own. 



"Here I must observe that the beagle, in point of height, should be reg- 

 ulated by the country he is to hunt in, but he ought, at any rate, to be very 

 low. In a dry country, free from walls, the beagle cannot be too low, but 

 where there are such impediments he should be larger, to prevent being 

 stopped by fences, as also when the waters are out he is better calculated for 

 swimming. In the country where my pack hunts, the turf is like velvet, a 

 circumstance much in their favour. The prince's beagles are of a much 

 larger growth than mine, and mixed, but it is a rule with me in the breed of 

 all animals to get the most stuff in the least room, in consequence of which 

 I naturally give the preference to my own pack." 



That unfortunately is all he says about the prince's beagles, and he then 

 goes on to say more about speed in beagles. He held that the lower dog 

 necessarily got the better scent, but in point of speed "they all go too fast. 

 When they sheeted well and carried a good head in a hilly, open country, 

 there was no chance for the horses to get eased and they became speedily 

 distressed, more so than in foxhunting, where the manoeuvres of the fox and 

 the necessity for frequent casts enabled the horses to get occasional rests. 



