HUNTING TOURS. 415 



by feeding them rather frequently with dry 

 meal. Wiiat the constitutions of hounds and 

 horses were composed of in those days it is 

 difficult to conceive, when I find fourteen 

 drachms of aloes and ojie drachm of jalap pre- 

 scribed as one dose for a horse ; or, for a 

 delicate horse, one drachm of aloes and six 

 drachms of rhubarb. The distemper, in some 

 years, seems to have committed considerable 

 ravages; but, at a somewhat early date, the 

 following very lucid, observant, and appro- 

 priate remark of the huntsman occurs : — " As 

 it appears in so many forms, of course it 

 requires as many modes of treatment." 

 Modern science and practice confirm this 

 most emphatically. 



A most important and significant mandate 

 was issued bv Lord Yarborouo-h to his hunts- 

 man in 1839 in his Lordship's determination 

 " to reduce the size of his largest hounds to 

 twenty-three inches, and the bitches not to 

 be below twenty-one." Three couples only, 

 however, were drafted, so that the pack must 

 have been remarkably level. The taste for 

 over-sized hounds was evidently on the wane, 

 and I believe there could not have existed a 

 greater mistake than that of our forefathers 



