76 COVEBT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



have the patience to watch hounds puzzling out a cold scent, 

 bit by bit, than an audience in one of our fashionable theatres 

 would sit out one of the old mystery plays with which our 

 churchmen were wont to amuse the public in the middle ages. 

 Hounds are not taught to hunt now as they were then ; if they 

 cannot go the pace, the huntsman must do it for them, and lift 

 them on to the next covert on spec of their fox having gone 

 there, as hard as he can go, unless he wants himself and hounds 

 to be ridden over ; and then we cry out, ''The hound has lost his 

 nose !" because he does not do what he has never been asked or 

 taught to do. But watch the relations of these same hounds in 

 Devon or any other rough country, where the huntsman cannot 

 get to them, and they are consequently taught to rely on them- 

 selves, you will see that the fox-hound of the present day can 

 hunt as low a scent as could any of his forefathers. I do not 

 say that he would puzzle out a track over dry ground like a 

 bloodhound, because it is not in his nature to do so. But this 

 arises from fire and impetuosity, not from want of olfactory 

 powers. If he stooped to a scent like the bloodhound, he may 

 walk a fox to death, but he would never hunt and kill him in 

 the style which alone gives zest to the sport of fox-hunting, 

 where " short, sharp, and decisive" should always be the motto. 



