COLOUR NOT MATERIAL. 31 



Melt in soft blandishments, and humble joy ; 



His glossy skin, or yellow-pied, oi- blue, 



In lights or shades by nature's pencil drawn, 



Reflects the various tints ; his ears and legs 



Fleckt here and there, in gay enamell'd pride, 



llival the speclded pard; his rush-grown tail 



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



On shoulders clean, upright and fii-m he stands ; 



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



And his low-dropping chest, confess his speed. 



His strength, his wind, or on the steepy hill, 



Or far extended plain ; in every part 



So well proportion'd, that the nicer skill 



Of Phidias himself can't blame thy choice. 



Of such compose thy pack." 



The colour I think the least material of all ; 

 and I think, with our friend Foote, that a good 

 dog, like a good candidate, cannot be of a bad 

 colour. 



Men are too apt to be prejudiced by the sort 

 of hound they themselves have been most accus- 

 tomed to. Those who have been used to the 

 sharp-nosed fox-hound will hardly allow a large- 

 headed hound to be a fox-hound ; yet both 

 equally are fox -hounds : — speed and beauty are 

 the chief excellencies of the one; whilst stout- 

 ness and tenderness of nose in hunting,* are 

 characteristic of the other. I could tell you, 



* II paroit que la finesse de I'odorat, dans les chiens, de- 

 pend de la grosseur plus que de la longueur du museau. — 



BUFFON. 



