THE EMPIRE AND THE REPUBLIC 271 



as noted by writers of authority on sporting subjects in France, 

 are novel and astonishing. According to one authority we care 

 httle for music, or for the way a hound draws, or for his 

 staunchness on a scent. The foxhound is represented as a 

 sort of sylvan hedonist. His morals are indifferent, and his 

 character selfish. Tested by French standards of hound 

 probity, it appears that he detests thick cover, and under 

 such circumstances merely follows the ridings, and cuts in 

 with the other hounds or with the deer when they leave it. 

 If the deer stays in cover, he often abandons the pursuit 

 altogether. Bested by slower but more virtuous hounds 

 w^hich have the knack of straining through the wealth of 

 bramble and blackthorn and ajoncs which distinguish a 

 French forest, he makes the most of o, dehucher , goes straight 

 up to the front, stays there, and spanks along at such a pace 

 that he makes the industrious hdtards, faint but pursuing, 

 bleed from the nose. He only likes a plain-sailing hunt, 

 hates a twisting deer and a stale scent ; one boar is quite as 

 good as another — although it is admitted that his courage 

 makes him a good boar-hound— and he is useless for roe- 

 deer hunting. Here is another bit of news about necks and 

 shoulders : the experience of an expert. It appears that the 

 English insist upon a hound with along neck, so that he can 

 stoop to a scent ; this is a proof, according to the oracle, that 

 most of our foxhounds have not very good noses. The 

 Saintonge hound — an ancient and eminent French breed — 

 hunted with his head up {le nez au vent), without deigning 

 to stoop. This is still a characteristic of a well-bred hound — 

 both in pointers and hounds — but M. de Chabot goes on to 

 say that he has often remarked slow-looking hounds keep 

 right up at the lead, and throw their tongues admirably 

 owing to the way they carried their heads and the way 

 their heads were put on. In our love of drive and pace 

 the French think we have sacrificed nose ; and nose has for 



