276 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



in some danger of being lost to us. Here is what a 

 sporting authority of that period says concerning them. 

 " Much emulation prevailed in former times among 

 sportsmen in the breeding of beagles, and it was then 

 the greatest merit to rear dogs of the smallest growth. 

 Amongst amateurs of hunting, beagles were so care- 

 fully selected in point of size that they seldom ex- 

 ceeded ten or eleven inches in height ; and they were 

 so well matched with respect to speed, that during 

 the chase a good pack might be covered with a sheet. 

 This is with all hounds a sure mark of excellence. 



" Although beagles are slow in speed they are 

 uncommonly eager ; for, if the scent lies well, a hare 

 has little chance of escape from them. Their slowness, 

 however, is the principal reason of their being almost 

 totally discontinued in packs ; and that they are now 

 seldom to be met with beyond a few couples, used in 

 some of the southern counties of England to ensure 

 finding more certainly in greyhound coursing." 



This is an extraordinary statement, and although 

 hunting with beagles had, in the early part of the last 

 century, certainly gone out of fashion, they were never 

 totally abandoned for hunting, or anything like it. Here 

 and there, in quiet places, a few packs were still main- 

 tained and the blood kept up. And for shooting, espe- 

 cially in Sussex, beagles were always in favour. 



" Hunting with the beagle," adds the same author, 

 Mr. Brown, " was admirably adapted for ladies and 

 gentlemen up in years ; and, besides, afforded much 

 amusement to rustics and other pedestrian hunters ; 

 for there were few male persons of any activity who 

 could not keep up with them." 



The latter part of this statement I take leave 

 to doubt. When beagles really run, nowadays, it 

 requires a pretty good man to keep up with them. 



