PRICE OF HOUNDS. 857 



the space of half a century, or less ; and on this 

 subject we cannot do better than quote Colonel 

 Cook. " Hounds,'' says he, " have always been 

 much undervalued ; we sometimes hear of eight 

 hundred or even a thousand guineas as the price of 

 a hunter, and the sum of three or four hundred is 

 often considered as a mere trifle ; whereas a pack of 

 hounds, on which every thing depends, was only con- 

 sidered worth a few hundreds. Yet Shakspeare 

 himself appears to have known the value of a 

 hound ; for in his ' Induction' to the Taming of 

 the Shrew, a nobleman returned from hunting thus 

 speaks of his hounds with delight to his huntsman : 



* Nobleman. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds ; 

 Brach Merriman, — the poor cur is emboss'd, 

 And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach. 

 Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good, , 

 At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault ? 

 I would not lose the dog for twenty pounds. 



' Huntsman. "Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord ; 

 He cried upon it at the meerest loss, 

 And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent ; 

 Trust me, I take him for the better dog.' 



" The sum of twenty pounds for a single hound 

 in Shakspeare's time," continues the colonel, " and 

 that not the best in the pack either, was no incon- 

 siderable price. I am not alluding to ' a lot of 

 curs ; ' but surely a well-bred, established pack of 

 fox-hounds, including brood bitches, and puppies at 

 walk, must be cheap at a thousand or twelve 

 hundred pounds." 



Now the value of any thing is what it will fetch ; 

 and how far an established pack of fox-hounds is 



