BECK FORD AA T D SOMERVILLE. 307 



it might be difficult to get a greater number to run well together, and a pack of Harriers 

 cannot be complete if they do not. Your other question is not easily answered. The hounds 

 I think most likely to show you sport are between the large, slow-hunting Harrier and the 

 little Fox Beagle : the former are too dull, too heavy, and too slow, the latter too lively, too 

 light, and too fleet. The first species, it is true, have most excellent noses, and I make no 

 doubt will kill their game at last, if the day be long enough : but you know the days are 

 short in winter, and it is bad hunting in the dark. The others, on the contrary, are all 

 alive, but every cold blast affects them ; and if your country be deep and wet, it is not 

 impossible that some of them may be drowned. 



" My hounds were a cross of both these kinds, in which it was my endeavour to get as 

 much bone and strength in as small a compass as possible. It was a difficult undertaking. I 

 bred many years, and an infinity of hounds, before I could get what I wanted. I at last had 

 the pleasure to see them very handsome, small yet bony. They ran remarkably well together, 

 ran fast enough, had all the alacrity that you could desire, and would hunt the coldest scent. 

 When they were thus perfect, I did as many others do I parted with them." 



There can be no doubt that all the writings of Mr. Beckford are those of not only a 

 practical man, but of an enthusiast. He is accepted by sportsmen as the authority on fox 

 and hare hunting even in the present day, which is a period of ninety-eight years since the 

 first edition of his work appeared in 1782. This speaks volumes for the conservative pro- 

 clivities of masters of hounds and hunting men in general, though doubtless much credit if 

 any credit there be for the absence of any great change is due to the natural instincts of the 

 animals hunted having undergone but slight alteration. Beckford had, by the way, a 

 contemporaneous brother-writer on sporting, and particularly hunting, subjects, of equal merit 

 in another way. This was William Somerville the poet, whose position as bard of the sporting 

 world much resembles that occupied by Dibdin in nautical circles, as the only recognised poet 

 of his admirers. 



In spite of the popularity of fox-hunting the number of packs of Harriers thtoughout 

 the country is steadily on the increase. This is not to be at all wondered at when the 

 love of sport for which Englishmen are so noted, and the comparative cheapness of hare- 

 hunting, come to be considered. We use the expression "comparative" advisedly, as even a 

 pack of Harriers is an expensive luxury to indulge in, though naturally a far lighter tax upon 

 the Master's resources than a pack of Foxhounds would be. 



Amongst the principal packs in the country are the Anglesey, the Master of which is 

 Capt. Rayner ; the Earl of Pembroke's ; The Trafford, Master Sir Humphrey de Trafford ; 

 Sir Harvey Bateson's, Pendle Forest, a rattling pack of half-bred Fox-hounds, whose Master is 

 Colonel Starkic ; The Taunton Vale ; Easton Park, Master Duke of Hamilton ; and the 

 Cotswold, of which Sir Francis C. Ford, Bart., is Master and huntsman. The number of 

 couples in these packs is on the average about eighteen, and they hunt two or three days a 

 week. The usual height of a Harrier is from 17 to 20 inches; if much higher than that a 

 strong cross of Foxhound is probably present in the strain. 



It is, however, notorious that many packs of Harriers are nothing more or less than half- 

 bred or dwarf Foxhounds, and therefore a dash of this blood can hardly be looked upon with 

 extreme disfavour, though it should not be encouraged, as it is likely to cause the breed to 

 become too big and fast for the purposes for which they are required. 



It is as a dwarf Southern Hound that the Harrier should be most properly regarded, 



