IXTRODUCTIOX 9 



bred hounds obtainable will answer best in this as 

 in every other country. Others advocate a harrier 

 cross. The former point to the number of foxes that 

 get to ground as proof that well-bred hounds do not 

 go even fast enough. Those of the other school urge 

 that the modern foxhound, large of frame and of 

 immense bone carried right down to the foot, may 

 do well enough on the moor (if he does not shake 

 his shoulders to pieces on the rocks), but that he is 

 unsuited to a country where hounds are continually 

 being brought to their noses by lanes, arable land 

 and other impediments ; that he is bred from winners 

 at Peterborough who win on looks alone ; that, 

 even if he does come from good working stock, 

 such stock is precluded by country' and circumstance 

 from acqiuring, and consequently from transmitting, 

 the qualities of patience and perseverance in the 

 necessary degree ; and that it is not so much the 

 pace that matters as the time that is lost at a check 

 by overrunning the scent. All these, and others, 

 are well-known stock arguments and are trotted out 

 by both sides, who also point to particular examples 

 in support of their respective theories. 



The matter is certainly one of first importance ; 

 and yet, paradoxically enough, it is one which in 

 practice may be ignored. For the South Devon 

 Hunt has no pack of its own, and cannot therefore 

 presume to dictate to a master who is good enough 

 to bring his own pack what manner of hound he 

 should breed. Therefore, though full of interest and 

 giving scope for a long dissertation, the subject is 

 one that need not be further pursued here. 



With regard to the horse required to cross the 

 comitry, much must depend on the qualifications 

 and ambitions of his rider. A lisht-weight will be 



