WELSH FOXHOUNDS 425 



CHAPTER L X V 1 1 I 



WELSH P^OXHOUNDS 



1 CAWOT but be i^lad that some casual remarks of mine 

 chanced to initiate correspondence upon the great merits 

 of the old Welsh foxhound. I do not know, by the way, 

 that the discussion would have come to much, but for 

 having been, equally inadvertently, fanned into a friendly 

 tlame by my cordial fellow - worker, " Rusticus," who, 

 throwing himself into the fray with all the outspoken 

 ardour of an enfant terrible, elicited valuable comment from 

 more than one good Welsh authority, besides rousing 

 comparisons at home. If the result should be the calling 

 attention to an old tap of the best working blood in the 

 British Isles, fox - hunting may yet reap, say, a week's 

 benefit out of this cruel frost. It may not be generally 

 known that Colonel Anstruther-Thomson, when assuming 

 mastership of the Atherstone many years ago, brought 

 several couple of Welsh hounds. 1 only remember that 

 he spoke of them afterwards as being " sharp as terriers 

 in their work, and that in kennel they bit like vipers." 

 It happens that this marplot weather, in addition to de- 

 frauding me of a halcyon time in southern Ireland, also 

 debarred me from gaining practical experience in this 

 subject on my way back, Mr. Lort Philips and his cross- 

 bred Pembrokeshire packs the exponents. I hope yet to 

 avail myself of such friendly chance ; and whatever one's 

 prejudices may be as to shape and make, straight legs and 

 round feet more particularly in point, I cannot but pin 

 faith (especially after recent demonstration) that the best 

 hounds to breed from are those that on a bad scenting 

 day can best carry the line and drive on it. As Mr. Lort 

 Philips rightly argues, " any cur can go like distraction on 

 a hot scent." Is it not rather on this theory that, while 

 carefully retaining orthodoxy of shape, i.e. working sym- 

 metry, the Brocklesby have been brought to perfection ? 

 (I confess I am acquainted with them by only the slightest 

 personal experience in the field. But those who should 



