The Beagle. 101 



but rather long in the body. Merry was wire- 

 haired and sandy in colour, not unlike a pale 

 coloured Irish terrier. She was in the north of 

 England, but where she came from I could never 

 make out. Her first public appearance was on the 

 bench, where she was shown by her owner, a 

 sporting dealer in oil cake, who had been a great 

 wrestler in his day. Mr. W. Lort, the judge, was 

 so taken with the little hound that he gave her 

 first prize in the " variety class." She had a lovely 

 voice, a thorough hound, but quite unlike any beagle 

 I ever saw before or since. 



Perhaps the best of all rabbit beagles was the 

 blue-mottled " Blue Belle," shown by Mrs. Reginald 

 Mayhew about four years ago, and now in America. 

 Here was about as perfect a little creature as could 

 be imagined, and even the most hypercritical could 

 only say she was a little weak in face. Then she 

 had such character, the best of legs and feet, so 

 difficult to obtain in perfection on either beagle 

 or harrier, a perfect body, loins, back, stern, and 

 ears all to correspond. Blue Belle was pur- 

 chased at one of the Sussex exhibitions when a 

 puppy for about thirty shillings. 



At Brighton and Tunbridge Wells shows the 

 best classes have been seen of both the rough and 

 smooth varieties ; but, as a rule, the more diminutive 



