THE ANTIQUITY OF HUNTING. 35 



thighs long, full, compact ; the hinder legs much longer than 

 those in front, and somewhat lean ; the feet round." 



Let us compare this with Beckford's portrait of a perfect fox- 

 hound, and, except in the matter of small ears, we shall not find 

 so very much difference in the two : — 



" Let his legs be straight as arrows, his feet round and not 

 too large ; his chest deep and back broad ; his head small, his 

 neck thin, his tail thick and bushy — if he carries it well, so 

 much the better. Such young hounds as are out at elbows, and 

 such as are weak from the knee to the foot, should never be 

 taken into the pack. I find that I have mentioned a small head 

 as one of the necessary points about a hound ; you will please to 

 understand it as relative to beauty only, for, as to goodness, I 

 believe large-headed hounds are no way inferior." 



Considering the difference in time and country, it appears to 

 me that these great schoolmasters of the chase were pretty 

 unanimous as to what a hound should be in shape and make, 

 and the description of the Greek reads far more like a fox-hound 

 than a greyhound, although he prohibited their being allowed 

 to run foxes. In colour he was also quite orthodox, as he went 

 in for pied hounds in preference to whole-coloured ones.^ Then, 

 to set all doubt at rest, he says they should pursue vigorously, 

 with great noise and barking, and turning in every direction 

 with the hare, and should follow swiftly and unmistakably, 

 frequently winding about, and yelping only for good reason, 

 and they should never leave the track to return to the hunts- 

 man. Dogs that run by sight as a rule run mute, hence it may 

 be fairly inferred that the chase was conducted with a pack of 

 hounds (he always speaks in the plural as of dogs) in Xenophon's 

 day ; but whether this mode fell into disrepute afterwards, when 

 the vertragas or greyhounds became known, I cannot say. I 

 may, before quitting the subject, also observe that hunting at 

 this time appears to have been the privilege of private iudi- 



2 Greyhounds are oftener whole-coloured than pied. 

 D 2 



