10 LARGE AND SMALL FOX-HOUNDS. 



Altlioiigli there exists a very great diversity of 

 opinion in regard to the height and size of fox- 

 hounds — some maintaining that a small iiound can 

 more easily creep through a fence than a large one 

 can jump over it ; and others contending that large 

 hounds can cross a stiff country with less exertion 

 than little ones — there is a general harmony of 

 ideas, or almost unanimous agreement, amongst 

 experienced masters of hounds and huntsmen, as 

 to shape, make, and symmetry ; and in this respect 

 the breeders of small hounds have decidedly the 

 best of the argument, since it is much more easy 

 to produce a clever pack, under twenty-four inches, 

 than one above that standard ; and there is another 

 recommendation in favour of the Liliputian race 

 —that they consume less oatmeal. They are more 

 easily managed also, and kept in more servile sub- 

 jection; for the lash of the whip which would 

 almost cut a small hound in half would only ex- 

 cite the choler of a big burly brute of twenty-five 

 or twenty-six inches. In my own kennels I ex- 

 perienced great difficulty in preserving order by 

 whipcord alone, and, after a fair trial, gave up the 

 contest in favom' of milder measures. 



It was highly amusing to see old Philip Payne, 

 the celebrated huntsman to the Badminton Pack, 

 drawing his favourites for inspection, and the rush 



