BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



strength, symmetry, yet the latent spark of the Harrier will 

 never be extinguished, and they will always show their pre- 

 dilection for Hare whenever they have opportunity.' 



The breed most celebrated was that of the Duke of 

 Newcastle, known as the Clumber, after the ducal seat. The 

 progenitors of the breed had been given to the reigning Duke 

 by the Due de Noailles about the middle of the eighteenth 

 century : these Clumbers, ' springing spaniels ' or ' springers,' 

 were famed for their steadiness, and judging from the fre- 

 quency with which portraits of such dpgs were painted during 

 the latter portion of the century, they were highly prized. 

 Mr. Hoare had a breed of spaniels of which it was said they 

 would find a hare, but follow no further than they saw it : they 

 would ' no more run hares than they would sheep,' but they 

 possessed noses so fine that ' neither woodcock nor pheasant 

 could escape their search.' Daniel says that he himself pos- 

 sessed spaniels so excellent that after refusing one hundred and 

 fifty guineas for six brace and a half, he was asked to put his 

 own price on them. Daniel must have stocked a veritable 

 cemetery before he got dogs up to his standard, for he tells us 

 that he ' purchased at various times, at least four score spaniels, 

 all with the best of characters, but which, with the exception of 

 four brace, were regularly consigned to the halter for incorrigible 

 Hare hunting^' The dogs which eventually brought him so 

 much credit were bred from Mr. Hoare's : he purchased them 

 on that gentleman's decease. Pointers with bells on their 

 collars were sometimes used in the coverts, but they did not 

 answer. Colonel Hawker preferred to spaniels a ' very high 

 couraged old pointer that would keep near (his master) and 

 would, on being told, break his point and dash in and put the 

 pheasants to flight before they could run out of shot,' and he 

 was not alone. A writer in the Sporting Magazine of 1815- 

 1816 (vol. iv.) says that well-bred spaniels have been neglected 

 of late years in favour of pointers, which answer all purposes 

 in light coverts throughout the season. 



Colonel Hawker, by the way, in his Instructions to Young 



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