Or plunge into the deep, or thread the brake
With thorns sharp-pointed, plash’d and briars inwoven.
Observe with care his shape, sort, colour, size.’
Somervile.
“From personal experience I know exactly what it should cost to keep a pack of beagles, and I also know that, the more carefully your hounds are bred, the more sought after your breed and Q.E.D. the less your annual expenses.
“I hate radical changes in the dear old place, but I am all for improvements, and I fail to see how any pack of hounds can be properly kennelled in the centre of a town. I dare not trespass further, Mr. Editor, on your space, but at some future time perhaps I may be allowed to make some few suggestions for the ‘walks’ of the future Peterborough winners bred at Eton. I apologise for the length of my letter, written with the hope that it may inspire the young Nimrod to breed and keep a good class of hound, with which even a not overspeedy Etonian may possibly see some sport, for
‘Tell me, ye gods, if any sounds
Be half as sweet as t’ hear the hounds.’
Nov. 12th.
W. H. B.”