8o Hounds 



evolution, to which there had previously been a 

 slow but definite move, had begun in earnest. The 

 added pace and dash of hounds was assured just 

 as was that of horses, which at once began to improve 

 owing to Meynell's discoveries and theories and the 

 appHcation of them. 



Right down to the present day hounds have con- 

 tinued to be bred with a view to pace and dash. 

 Pessimists are apt to point to this as a distinct sign 

 of deterioration in the fundamental principles and 

 science as well as the enjoyment of venery, and to 

 suggest that hunting has by a sporting evolution 

 become a mere steeplechase, and that hounds are 

 merely employed as machines to map out the course. 

 There is some truth in the plaint of the old school. 



Hounds are possibly bred more with a view to 

 pace to-day than ever was the case before, and more 

 is thought of a fast twenty minutes' gallop over a 

 nice jumping country by the average hunting man 

 and woman than an hour's hunt full of hound work 

 and hound music. It was the more speedy hound, 

 however, which necessitated the altering of the old 

 type of hunter, so full of stamina, so that the rider 

 might live with hounds when they ran. Now, to a 

 certain extent, the tables have been turned, and one 

 might almost suggest hounds have to be bred with a 

 view to keeping clear of the horses. Instead of run- 

 ning in double harness, or I should perhaps say in 



