HUNTING DIRECTORY. 35 



Or okl English Blood-hound. 



stealing, by Sir Thomas Lucy ; and as the Talbot, or 

 something nearly allied to the Talbot, was used at this 

 period by deer-stealers, he must have been well ac- 

 quainted with them. Crook-kneed is not a flattering 

 recommendation in a hound, nor is such a circumstance 

 noticed by Somervile, who thus describes the Talbot : — 



" But if th'amphibious otter be thy chase, 



Or stately stag, that o'er the woodland reigns. 



Or if t'harmonious thunder of the field 



Delight thy ravished ears, the deep-flew'd hound 



Breed up with care, strong, heavy, slow, but sure; 



Whose ears down hanging from his thick round head 



Shall sweep the morning dew, whose clanging voice 



Awake the mountain echo in her cell, 



And shake the forests : the bold Talbot kind, 



Of these the prime as white Alpine snows, 



And great their use of old." 



It is very probable that neither Shakespeare nor 

 Somervile was so intimately acquainted with the Talbot, 

 as to render either of their descriptions perfectly accu- 

 rate. As to the dewlap noticed by the former, we see 

 a striking approach to this in many of the deep-mouthed 

 hounds of the present day ; which an old sporting friend 

 was wont to denominate, significantly enough, " throaty 

 dogs." 



Those specimens of the Talbot, or at least of a near 

 approach to the Talbot, which have fallen under my 

 observation, were animals of great size, in height about 

 twenty-seven inches, bony and powerful. Their heads 

 and ears were very large, with much loose skin or leather 

 about the mouth, and the nose much more obtuse than 



