86 Forty Years Beagling 



pose of proving quality, where I believe all hounds 

 get a fair chance to be seen and heard. 



"And now I come to the last but one paragraph, 

 where your correspondent thinks it a bitter pill to 

 swallow when one goes out only to hear the hounds. 

 I feel like the gentleman who wrote 'what's the 

 use'; perhaps your correspondent will tell me why 

 a true huntsman tries to match the tones of his 

 hounds, if it isn't to hear their music? AVhy does 

 the bard of Avon say 'match'd on mouths like 

 bells' ? I always supposed it was the music of their 

 voices that the foxhound, the harrier and the beagle 

 had been cultivated for, as much as for their scent 

 and rabbit hunting. In my estimation not less than 

 fom- dogs are necessary for a satisfactory run; 

 they need to be selected something like this: a 

 treble, a high tenor, a second tenor, and a deep tone 

 or baritone; then if they pack with equal nose and 

 speed, why the music and the echoes are worth 

 losing a few hours' sleep to hsten to. Perhaps, 

 to properly appreciate such music, one has to be 

 educated thereto. Fortunately, as a boy, I had 

 opportunities of hearing such packs of foxhounds 

 as the Earl of Coventry's, the Berkeley and the 

 Ledbury, on days that their meets were in the 

 neighborhood. Every veer of the wind was studied, 

 every sound listened to — but perhaps I had better 



