THE OLD-TIME HAREHOUND 67 



kennel of them seldom seen ; they are of the Northern 

 breed, and by many esteemed for the chase of the 

 Otter and Marten, and in some places are encouraged 

 for that of the Fox ; but they are bad to breed from, 

 being subject to produce thick, heavy shouldered 

 dogs, unfit for the chase.* Beagles, rough or smooth, 

 have their admirers ; their tongues are musical, and 

 they go faster than the Southern Hounds, but toil 

 much. They run so close to the ground, as to enjoy 

 the scent better than taller dogs, especially when 

 the atmosphere lies low. In an enclosed country they 

 do best, as they are good at trailing or default, and 

 for hedgerows ; but they require a clever Huntsman, 

 for out of eighty couple in the field during a winter's 

 Sport the author observed not four couple that could 

 be depended on. 



" Smooth-haired Beagles," he adds, " are commonly 

 deep hung, thick lipped, with large nostrils, but often 

 so soft and bad quartered as to be shoulder-shook and 

 crippled the first season they hunt ; crooked legs, 

 like the Bath turn-spit, are frequently seen among 

 them ; after two hours running many of them are 

 disabled, and the Huntsman may proceed to hunt 

 the Hare himself, for he will never receive any assist- 

 ance from the greater part of them, their form and 

 shape sufficiently denote them not designed for hard 

 exercise." 



This author, who wrote in 1750, must surely have 

 come across some infamously bad beagles. At the 

 present day, if he could return to those hunting-grounds 

 in which he enjoyed his sport, he would find, among 



* The otter-hound of the present day is supposed by some 

 to be the^truest modern representative of the Southern hound. 

 It is clear that otter-hounds were also bred in the North, and 

 some of that strain no doubt remains to us. 



