CHAPTER I 
Early History 
T EGEND and tradition, if not authentic history, 
tell us that the beagle was known in the days 
of King Henry \ III, but came into still greater 
popularity when his daughter, by Anne Boleyn— 
Elizabeth—reigned as Queen of the English people. 
In those days, it is said, the beagle was a great 
favorite, of royalty itself and old pictures are extant 
showing the Court going out on its hunts with 
beagles carried in the gauntlets of the huntsmen 
and huntswomen or in the panniers of the saddles. 
From this we must necessarily draw the conclu¬ 
sion that the beagles in vogue those days were very, 
very small, or the gauntlets and panniers very large. 
We do know for a certainty that the beagle most 
in favor in those days ranged in size from eight to 
twelve inches. Occasionally at this day and date 
we see some specimens of the breed under nine 
inches, but they are considered almost too small for 
practical work. Some years ago, however, Norvin 
T. Harris, of Shadwell, Va., had a bitch measuring 
under nine inches which he wrote me about fre¬ 
quently and which he stated, gave him as much 
pleasure and satisfaction in the hunting field as 
any of the regulation size beagles. The standard 
measurements of the present are divided into two 
classes, namely, under thirteen inches and thirteen 
inches and under fifteen. These two divisions are 
(in 
