THE FOX-HOUND. G5 



1G90 and 1700, and that these hounds, or rather their de- 

 scendants, afterwards passed into the hands of the celebrated 

 Hugo Meynell. The next pack of which we have any record is 

 the Brockleshy, established 1713. And in 1730 Mr. Fownes' 

 hounds were sold to Mr. Bowles, and astonished the Yorkshire- 

 men ; about this time Lord Hertford's hounds, hunting from 

 Sandiwell Park, Gloucestershire, in the Cotswold country, first 

 went uncoupled and drew coverts in the modern style. In 

 twenty years from that time, several packs were established, 

 while, before the century was out, the celebrated matches between 

 Mr. MeyneU and Mr. Barry took place. Thus w^e see, if the 

 hounds resulted from a cross, that cross, for the first haK of the 

 eighteenth century, was in very few hands, and yet, in the latter 

 half, packs sprung up all over the kingdom. 



This, to my mind, is a clear proof that, when men took 

 first to fox-hunting, they already had a hound adapted to the 

 sport, and who only wanted entering to his game to become a 

 fox-hound. That he was very perfect soon after fox-hunting 

 became general, the writings of Beckford prove to demonstration j 

 that he was a diff"erent hound from the harrier, Somerville shows 

 us where he says, — 



A different hound for every different chase, 

 Select with judgment ; nor the tim'rous hare 

 0'ermatch*d destroy." 



And I think we may fairly assume from this, that, for whatever 

 purpose he had been used before that time, he was no mushroom 

 or the result of a cross, but a dog of old-established and weU- 

 known breed. 



Before, however, reverting to what he was or whence he 

 sprung, I must return to my assertion that the fox-hound was as 

 good in the latter part of the eighteenth century as at present, 

 because I know that here I differ from well-known authorities who 

 have written on the dog. Stonehenge, for one, bases an opinion 

 that the fox-hound has improved in speed, on the fact that in 



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