352 THE HOUND. 



ideas ; and the s^reat variety in the voice of nature 

 must have been designed to meet the pecuHar tastes 

 and purposes of the countless multitudes that dwell 

 on the face of the earth. That the cry of hounds 

 is a voluntary noise, proceeding from a powerful 

 organic impulse, is quite apparent, as is also the 

 purpose for which the impulse is given ; namely, 

 to announce their having discovered the scent of 

 an animal, either obnoxious to their notice, or de- 

 sirable as food, and by calling their straggling 

 companions together, and uniting their forces, the 

 better to enable them to secure their prey. On 

 the other hand, here is mercy shown to the prey 

 they are in pursuit of. The tongue of the hound 

 gives notice of his approach ; and he does not 

 pounce upon his victim as the silent greyhound 

 does, which Gratius, in his poem on coursing, 

 alludes to in the following verse : — 



" Sic canis ilia suos taciturna supervenit hostes." 



But the cry of hounds, melodious and heart- 

 cheering as it even now is, has lost much of its 

 poetical interest, from the change man has made 

 in the natural organisation of the animal from 

 which it proceeds ; and we shall never again hear 

 of a master of a pack, after the manner of Addi- 

 son's knight, returning a hound that had been 

 given to him as an " excellent bass," whereas the 

 note he wanted was a " counter-tenor." The great 

 Beckford, however, was something of the worthy 

 knight's opinion ; for he says, in his Thoughts upon 

 Hunting^ " If we attended more to the variety of 



