THE STAGHOUND. 



31 



the old deerhound and greyhound, so with these dogs, though in organi/ation ;md appearance identical, 

 yet, from being entered and kept for many generations to different game, they are to be "readily 

 distinguished by their style of hunting. " Nevertheless," says Stonehenge, " no' one could say where 

 the line which divides them passes, aud it would be impossible even for Mr. Davis to distinguish a large 

 spiry foxhound from one of the smaller and lightest of her Majesty's beautiful pack. The staghound, 

 therefore, may be considered as a large foxhound, or the foxhound as a small staghound ; the one 

 devoted to the hunting of deer, the other to that of the fox." 



The original stock of these two varieties is considered to be the southern hound, bloodhound, or 

 Talbot. Changes iu the face of a country lead to others, and among them t-ho condition of its dn<^. 

 Kngkind, like other countries of Europe, was largely covered with forests. Those of Thick wood and 

 Stokenchurch, in Oxfordshire ; Windsor Forest, in Berkshire; and the Forest of Dean, in Gloucester- 

 shire, are still extensively wooded, and may recall a state which was, in former times, far more 

 extended, and when slower horses and dogs were sufficient for all the purposes of the chase. The 

 increase of population tending to the destruction of forests, by causing a demand for the productions of 

 arable land, has wrought so great a change, that we have now hardly any forests of considerable extent, 

 though, perhaps, there are few countries over which timber is more equally distributed. 



As the country was cleared more speed was required, and when the horse could be used, in order 

 to keep pace with it, a faster hound was sought for, and the old-fashioned, deep-toned, and careful 

 hound was bred, of which our fathers read in " Beck ford on Hunting," and in "The Chase," by 

 Somerville, who was said by Dr. Johnson to have written "very good verse for a gentleman." That 

 poem has, undoubtedly, enjoyed a long career of favouritism with those who have combined a taste f,,r 

 such .reading with an attachment to the sports of the field. It is written in tolerably harmonious 

 blank verse ; and, as Somerville was practically master of his subject, his descriptions are always 

 accurate, and frequently vivid, while he has varied them by comparing the rural sports of other 

 countries with those of his own. 



During the reign of George III., who was devoted to the chase of the stag, several of the most 

 tremendous runs on record took place ; at some of which the king a daring horseman was present. 

 On one occasion, the deer was liberated at the starting-post of Ascot Heath, and, after making Bagshot 

 Park, proceeded, without head or double, over the open country, through Finchamstead Woods, Bark- 

 ham, Arborfield, Swallowfield, Mortimer, across the river Kennett, and over the intervening country tc. 

 Tilchurst, below Reading, where the deer was taken unhurt, after a desperate run of four hours and 

 twenty minutes horsemen being thrown out in every part of the country through which they passed. 

 One hm-se dropped dead on the field ; another immediately after the chase, before he could reach the 

 stable ; and seven more within the week. Of such severity was this run, that tired horses, in great 

 danger, and others completely log- weary, or broken down,' were .unavoidably left at various inns in 

 different parts of the couniry. 



Cowper wrote, in the view of such facts : 

 " Does law, so jealous in the cause of man, 



Denounce no doom on the delinquent ? None ! 



He lives, and o'er his brimming beaker boasts 



(As if barbarity were high desert) 



Th' inglorious feat, and, clamorous in praise 



Of the poor brute, seems wisely to suppose 



The honours of his matchless horse his o*n. 



lint many a crime deem'd innocent on earth 



Ii registered in Heaven ; and these, no doubt, 



Have each their record, with a curse annexed . 



And when the bush-exploring boy, that seized 



The younef, to let the parent bird go free; 



Prov'd He rot plainly, (hat his meaner w.nks 



Are yet his cire, and have an int'reat all 



All, in the universal Father's love? 



On Noah, and in him on all mankind, 



The charter was conferr'd, by which we hold 



The flesh of animals in fee, and claim 



O'er all we feed a power of life and death ; 



But read the instrument, and mark it well : 



Th' oppression of a tyrannous control 



Can find no w.irrant there. Feed, then, ard yield 



Thanks for thy food. Cdrnivo oua, through sin, 



Feed on the sl-.in, but spire the living brute!" 



" Man may dismiss comp.ission from his heart, 

 But God will never. When he charg'd the Jew 

 T' assi.-t his foe's down-fallen beast to rise ; 



The dogs of former days, as of the times of George III., were filter 'than "the Southern 'hound, but 



slow when compared with the modern foxhound. Then the fox was tracked to his woodland 



-early m the day, and consequently being full of food, which he hail not had time to digest his 



was proportionably slow to that he adopts now, when the chase occurs several hours after his 



teptl The improved state of the hound arises from crossing the breed with the orevhouud 



