The Foxhound : Essential Features 67 



According to Cecil, the original idea of the chase 

 was either for procuring food or else for destrojdng 

 noxious beasts. 



For upwards of two hundred years Foxhound breed- 

 ing has been carried out with infinite care and regard 

 until it has now attained the highest standard of 

 excellence possible — speed, stoutness and endurance 

 being essential attributes of such excellence. Through- 

 out the British Isles, and in various foreign countries, 

 this variety of hound affords the most popular 

 variety of sport amongst a class who are fortunate 

 enough to be able to indulge in it, whilst the in- 

 direct advantages that accrue from it, commercially 

 and otherwise, constitute a considerable part of 

 the revenue. A pack of Foxhounds of fashionable 

 breeding has been known to realize several thousands 

 of pounds at public auction, whilst two or three 

 hundred pounds is not uncommonly paid for a high- 

 class stallion hound. It stands as an indisputable 

 fact that the noblemen of England past and present 

 have done more towards improving the quality of 

 the Foxhound than any other members of the com- 

 munity, and it is only just in passing to pay this 

 tribute. The Foxhound Stud Book was established 

 for the purpose of recording the pedigrees of eligible 

 hounds, and it now stands as a record of what good 

 can be done by a systematic collection of the various 

 data relating to individual hounds. 



