270 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



the qualities and defects of French hounds, and the quaHties 

 and defects of English hounds according to French ideas. 



French tradition clings to line hunting, drawing and 

 perseverance. It has little patience with the arrogance 

 and fling of a foxhound. M. de Chezelles, a high authority, 

 thinks that a good modern hdtard, which is to all intents 

 the French hound, hunts more gaiement than an English 

 hound. He is busier : throws his tongue incessantly, and 

 wishes everybody to share in his opinions, perplexities, and 

 triumphs ; and there can be little doubt that a good hdtard 

 is probably a better hound for forest hunting than a draft 

 hound from the Holdernesse or the Tedworth. I have 

 already referred to my predecessor, Colonel Thornton. 

 The Colonel, although he tells us that his hounds always 

 outpaced the French hounds — in spite of their rather 

 confined quarters in the travelling carriage with Mrs. T.'s 

 trunks and bonnet boxes — and that he himself performed 

 feats, and exhibited a fertility of resource which made his 

 hosts stare, acknowledges very handsomely that the French 

 surpass us in science. Without pausing to inquire whether 

 or not hunting is a science, be it in France or anywhere 

 else, I am quite willing to agree with the Colonel that 

 now as then the French know a great deal about woodland 

 hunting and woodland hounds. The same candour, how- 

 ever, compels me to say that they have some strange 

 prepossessions about English hunting, English hounds, and 

 English requirements. 



As Lord Byron said of the Venetian ladies, the French, 

 as regards their hounds, have ' awful notions of constancy.' 

 A hound must stick to a hunted deer like a limpet. They 

 think that in England a change on to a fresh fox is not only 

 connived at, but encouraged, and English blood is always 

 looked upon with suspicion as willing to cheerfully compound 

 such felonies. Some of the characteristics of English hounds, 



