228 



GROUP OF MR. A GORHAM'S ROUGH-COATED BEAGLES. 



Photograph by Russell ami Sons. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

 THE BEAGLE. 



BY G. S. LOWE. 



" Pour down, like a flood from the hills, brave boys, 

 On the wings of the wind 

 The merry beagles fly ; 

 Dull sorrow lags behind : 

 Yc shrill echoes reply. 

 Catch each flying sound, and double our joys.'' 



\Vm. So.merville. 



THERE is nothing to surpass the beauty 

 of the Beagle either to see him on the 

 flags of his kennel or in unravelling 

 a difficult}' on the line of a dodging hare. 

 In neatness he is really the little model of 

 a Foxhound. He is, of course, finer, but 

 with the length of neck so perfect in the 

 bigger hound, the little shoulders of tlie 

 same pattern, legs and feet the same, and 

 the typical quarters and second thighs. 

 Then how quick he is in his casts ! and when 

 he is fairly on a line, of course he sticks to 

 it, as the saying is, " like a beagle." 



Beagles have been carefully preserved for 

 a great many years, and in some cases they 

 have been in families for almost centuries. 

 In the hereditary hunting establishments 

 the}^ have been frequently found, as the 

 medium of amusement and instruction in 

 hunting for the juvenile members of the 



house ; and there can be nothing more likely 

 to instil the right principles of venery into 

 the youthful mind than to follow aU the 

 ways of these little hounds, The}^ must not 

 be hurried at all — -just taken into a field and 

 a wave of the liand is enougli to make them 

 verj' busy. A liare. rabbit, or whatever it 

 may be, will not take them off their noses 

 if breaking away in view, but they hold to 

 the line in a sort of revelry of enjoyment. 

 To lift them is impossible, they know their 

 part so well, and, throwing their tongues 

 like peals of little bells, they will hunt a 

 hare to death by sheer pertinacity. It is 

 all perfect hunting : not at all like that 

 of the Dachshund, who dwells round the 

 form of a hare, and seemingly does not dare 

 to trust himself. But the little Beagle, with- 

 out dashing away at all like a Fo.xhound 

 — who gets impatient in the enchantment 



