Olden Times. 8i 



puzzle the most astute philosopher to tell you why 

 they can't lay hold of it. Hounds when going to 

 covert will almost tell you if there be a scent or not. 

 They will sniff the air and go with their heads up, and 

 show buoyancy of spirits, if they know they can run ; 

 but on the contrary, when it is a bad scent they will 

 hang down their sterns, and seem indifferent as to 

 whether they went on or not. The sure symptom of 

 want of scent is when a hound rolls in going to covert. 

 Apropos to this is a story of Jem Butler. One morn- 

 ing when the hounds met at Lamport, his favourite 

 bitch Rosy was rolling near his horse ; and the late 

 Mr. Bouverie, who was close to him, heard the follow- 

 ing soliloquy : " No galloping ; no fun, Rosy ; Rosy ! 

 thee must hunt to-day !" 



In the formation of a pack nothing is Selection of 

 so essential as the proper selection of Stallion Hounds, 

 stallion hounds. As a general principle it is not ad- 

 visable to breed from a young hound. So long as he 

 is in full vigour he may not show vice ; but when he 

 loses his power is the time he will show it, if he has it 

 in him. An honest hound will hang to the line when 

 he has lost the power of running to head. That, in 

 short, is the trial of his worth ; and if he stands that 

 trial you will do well to breed from him. Hounds 

 which are to be hereafter valuable must begin with 

 chasing. There is probably no instance of a good 

 stallion hound who began by hunting. It must have 

 been observed by all men conversant with breeding, 

 how diametrically opposite in character are hounds of 

 the same litter. There was a remarkable instance of 

 it in two hounds bred by John "Warde, in 1807. Their 

 names were Alfred and Audrey, by Lee Anthony's 

 Anthony ; the former one of the wildest and most dif- 

 ficult hounds to break, and the latter the deadest 

 hunter from her entry. John Warde used to say, 

 " When those nine-stone skinny fellows are miles 

 ahead, Audrey is my best friend." She toiled along; 



G 



