278 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



slung across a horse ; small as they were, they would 

 keep a Hare at all her shifts to escape them, and often 

 worry her to death ; but it was similar to that species 

 of hunting where a Fox was hunted in Devonshire 

 House Gardens, it might be endured as a novelty, 

 but no one would ever wish to behold it a second 

 time. The Catastrophe attending this Pack of Hounds 

 is laughable, and perhaps a Larceny unique in its 

 attempt. A small bam was their allotted Kennel, 

 the door of which was one night broke open and every 

 hound, with the Panniers, stolen, nor could the most 

 diligent search discover the least trace of the Robbers 

 or their Booty." 



" Stonehenge," in the second edition of his volume 

 on " The Dog," dated 1872, makes the rather astonish- 

 ing statement that the true beagle was almost entirely 

 displaced by dwarf specimens of the foxhound, or by 

 crosses with it in varying proportions. That statement 

 seems to me far too sweeping. I grant that dwarf 

 foxhound blood has strongly invaded the constitution 

 of the modern beagle, but, here and there, you may 

 still find many a good beagle of the right old-fashioned 

 stamp, probably blue-mottle in colour, or with strong 

 traces of blue-mottle, and showing by its long ears, 

 the contour of its head, its fine voice, and perhaps a 

 certain throatiness, its descent from the Southern 

 hound or some equally ancient type. As to throati- 

 ness, which is usually reckoned by modern judges so 

 terrible an offence, I advise the novice who is getting 

 together a cry of beagles — or harriers either — not to 

 be too much frightened by the appearance of this 

 fault. It may be taken as a sound axiom that a throaty 

 hound is always blessed with a good nose. Tom 

 Smith, the famous Master of Foxhounds, author of 

 " The Life of a Fox," and " The Diary of a Hunts- 



