other dogs.

The rough, large-boned, ill-looking Lurcher, is said to have descended
from the rough greyhound and the shepherd's dog. It is now rare, but
there are some of its sinister-looking mongrel progeny still to be seen.
They always bear the reputation of being poachers' dogs, and are deeply
attached to their owners. They have a fine scent; and a man confessed to
Mr. Bewick, that he could, with his pair of lurchers, procure as many
rabbits as he pleased. They never give tongue, but set about their work
silently and cautiously, and hunt hares and partridges, driving the
latter into the nets of the unlawful sportsmen. They will even pull down
deer.

There are still many English hearts which beat quicker at the cry of the
hound; there are some old ones which throb at the recollection of the
well-appointed field, when the bugle summoned them to the chase, when
gallant steeds carried them over gate, hedge, ditch, and river; they
even glory when they refer to fearful tumbles, barely escaping with
life, and some meeting with a death next in honour, according to their
notions, to that of a soldier in action. There are some young ones who
listen with entranced ears to the deeds of their forefathers, and amidst
the toil of the dark counting-house, wish that such times could come for
them. They never will come again; railroads have been invented, men's
minds have been diverted into other channels; and fox-hunting, with its
concomitant evils and its attendant pleasures, is gradually disappearing
from fox-hunting England. Some, on whom the spirit of Nimrod has
descended with such force, as to render them impatient under the
privation, go to distant lands, and there perform feats worthy of the
mighty hunter; but it is neither with hawk nor hound, and before many
generations have passed, our beautiful race of hunting dogs will exist
but in name.

There are more varieties of these hounds than I can here enumerate; but
all possess a larger development of brain than the greyhound; their nose
is broader, as well as their jaws; their ears are large and hanging;
their tail is raised and truncated, and they have a firm, bold, and
erect gait, an appearance of strength, independence, and (if I may be
allowed to use the expression) candour, which is vainly looked for in
other dogs. They came to us from the East, probably at a later period
than those dogs which more resemble the wolf.

The once-esteemed Blood-hound is now rare, and I co