THE FOX-HOUND. 327 



(luce the result. There can be no doubt, then, but 

 that by pursuing this course throughout a number 

 of generations with the hound, an animal has been 

 produced of what may be called quite a new variety 

 in the canine race, answering the description and 

 purposes of our present fox-hound. But the ques- 

 tions may be asked. Whence the necessity for th is 

 change, and forcing, as it were, nature from her 

 usual course I Why not be content with the lo w- 

 scenting, plodding hounds of our forefathers, which, 

 from the superiority of their nose, not only dis- 

 played hunting^ in the strict acceptation of that 

 term, to the highest advantage, but very rarely 

 missed the game they pursued? These questions 

 are satisfactorily answered in a few words ; first, 

 as the fox is not now found by the drag, and the 

 number of those animals is so greatly increased, 

 the necessity for this extreme tenderness of nose 

 does not exist ; and, secondly, by reason of the 

 blood of the race-horse having gradually mixed with 

 that of our hunters, the sort of hound we have 

 been alluding to was not found to be adapted to 

 their increased speed ; and particularly as, in pro- 

 portion as nature lavished this fine sense of smelling 

 on the old-fashioned hound, was he given to " hang'"' 

 or dwell upon the scent, thereby rendering the 

 length of a chase (which, to please the present 

 taste, should, like Chatham's battle, be " sharp, 

 short, and decisive") beyond the endurance of a 

 modern sportsman. It is true, Mr. Beckford, in 

 his Thoughts upon Hunting^ gives an instance of a 

 pack of old-fashioned hounds, which ran in a string. 



