THE BLOODHOUND. 



141 



Indeed, the very name of the dog calls up 

 \-isions of feudal castles, with their trains 

 of knights and warriors and all the stirring 

 panorama of these brave days of old, when 

 the onl}^ tenure of life, property, or goods 

 was by the strong hand. In the stories 

 of Border foravs. the Bloodhound constantlv 



St. Huberts, are supposed to have been 

 brought by pilgrims from the Holy Land. 

 Another larger breed, also known by the 

 same name, were pure wlaite, and another 

 kind were gre3'ish-red. The dogs of the 

 present day are probably a blend of all these 

 varieties. 



HUNTSMEN ROASTING A WILD BOAR 



From a French Tapestry 0/ the Fifteenth Cenlury. Showing Bloodhmmis 0/ the period, and, alio, 



tn the background, a Hunting Dog in Annotir. 



appears in pursuit of enemies and " fol- 

 lowing gear," and great was the renowTi of 

 liim who 



" By wily turns and desperate bounds, 

 Had baflaed Percy's best bloodhounds." 



This feudal dog is frequently pictured by 

 the poet in his ballads and romances, ana 

 in "The Lad}^ of the Lake" we find the 

 breed again mentioned : 



" Two dogs of black St. Hubert's breed, 

 Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed, 

 Fast on his flNnng traces came. 

 And aU but won the desperate game : 

 For scarce a spear's length from his haunch 

 Vindictive toiled the bloodhounds staunch." 



These famous black Bloodhounds, called 



During the French \\'ars of Henry VIII. 

 Bloodliounds were regularly employed, as 

 they were also by the Spaniards in ^le.xico 

 and Peru. In the daj's of Queen Elizabeth, 

 it is said, eight hundred Bloodhounds 

 accompanied the forces of the Earl of Essex 

 in suppressing • the Irish Rebellion. In 

 later times the}^ became the terror of the 

 deer stealer and the cattle lifter, and for 

 this purpose were maintained b}^ the Earls of 

 Buccleuch on their Border estates till late in 

 the eighteenth century. So skilful were they 

 that when one of them got fairly on the 

 track of a fugitive his escape was aU but 

 impossible. 



The Bloodhound, from the nobler pur- 

 suit of heroes and knights, came in later 

 years to perform the work of the more 



