The Foxhound. 87 



at any price, varying from a sovereign to ;^io a 

 couple. These figures will give some idea of the 

 value of a pack of hounds at the present day. 



" Stonehenge '^ jocularly remarks: ''Nose com- 

 bined with speed and stoutness have always been con- 

 sidered as the essentials for the foxhound, but of late 

 years, owing to enormous fields which have attended 

 our leading packs, and the forward riding displayed 

 by them, another feature has been demanded, and 

 ' the supply ' in the ' grass countries ' has been 

 obtained in a remarkable manner. I allude to the 

 gift peculiar to our best modern hounds of getting 

 through a crowd of horses when accidentally 

 ' slipped ' by the pack. This faculty is developed 

 to a very wonderful extent in all packs hunting the 

 ' Shires,' varying, of course, slightly in each, and it is 

 no less remarkably absent in certain packs otherwise 

 equal to the Quorn and its neighbours, or even 

 superior to them." I may say that through force of 

 circumstances this valued gift of self-preservation 

 has lately been exhibited by Her Majesty's and some 

 other packs within easy railway distance of our great 

 metropolis. 



Allusion has already been made to the eminent 

 French author on Venerie, le Comte de Canteleu, 

 and the accompanying translation of a letter from 

 his pen will, I think, be of interest : 



