DESCRIPTION OF A FOXHOUND. 271 



" I perfectly agree with you, that, to look well, they should be all nearly of a size ; 

 and I even think they should all look of the same family : 



"'Fades non omnibus una, 

 Nee diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum.' 



If handsome withal, they are then perfect. With their being sizable, what Somerville says 

 is so much in your own way that I shall send it to you : 



"'As some brave captain, curious and exact, 

 By his fixed standard forms in equal ranks 

 His gay battalion, as one man they move 

 Step after step, their size the same, their arms 

 Far gleaming, dart the same united blaze : 

 Reviewing generals his merit own ; 

 How regular ! how just ! and all his cares 

 Are well repaid, if mighty George approve. 

 So model thou thy pack, if honour touch 

 Thy gen'rous soul, and the world's just applause.' 



"There are necessary points in the shape of a hound which ought always to be attended 

 to by a sportsman ; for if he is not of a perfect symmetry, he will neither run fast nor 

 bear much work. He has much to undergo, and should have strength proportioned to it. 

 Let his legs be straight as arrows ; his feet round, and not too large ; his chest deep, and 

 back broad ; his head small ; his neck thin ; his tail thick and brushy, if he carries it 

 well, so much the better. This last point, however trifling it may appear to you, gave 

 rise to a very odd question. A gentleman (not much acquainted with hounds), as we were 

 hunting together the other day, said, ' I observe, sir, that some of your dogs' tails stand 

 up and some hang down ; pray, sir, which do you reckon the best hounds ? ' Such young 

 hounds as are out at the elbows, and such as are weak from the knee to the foot, should 

 never be taken into the pack. 



" I find that I have mentioned a small head as one of the necessary points about a 

 hound. You will please to understand it as relative to beauty only; for as to goodness, I 

 believe large-headed hounds are no way inferior. Somerville, in his description of a perfect 

 hound, makes no mention of the head, leaving the size of it to Phidias to determine; he 

 therefore must have thought it of very little consequence. I send you his words. 



" ' See there with count'nance blythe, 

 And with a courtly grin, the fawning hound 

 Salutes thee cow'ring, his wide op'ning nose 

 Upwards he curls, and his large sloe-black eyes 

 Melt in soft blandishments and humble joy ; 

 His glossy skin, or yellow-pied or blue, 

 In lights or shades by Nature's pencil drawn, 

 Reflects the various tints ; his ears and legs 

 Flecked here and there, in gay enamelled pride, 

 Rival the speckled pard; his rush-grown tail 

 O'er his broad back bends in an ample arch ; 

 On shoulders clean, upright and firm he stands ; 

 His round cat foot, straight hams, and wide-spread thighs, 

 And his low-dropping chest, confess his speed, 



