easily be too fast for the work he is called on to do. This rule of size is not inevitable, for we see horses that are scarcely over fifteen hands gallop down rivals that are nearly seventeen. At the pre sent time a horse called The Bard, standing only fifteen hands two inches in height, has probably While in a pack of foxhounds or of OTTER HOUNDS. From a Drawing by L. WAIN. of place, and such an one often does even better service than his shaggy companions if, that is to say, he can be induced to care for otter hunting. Most writers on the otter deplore the scarcity of the creature, and sorrowfully anticipate the approaching day when he will be extinct. But otters are much more numerous than is generally supposed, only that they are hard to find, and perhaps not always the best means are taken to effect their discovery. The otter is the cunningest, keenest, and most wasteful of 790 poachers, and having the depths of rivers with other underground passages and drains to aid his escape, is far harder to find than is the fox. To many otter-hounds the scent of the otter does not seem to have that fascination which a whiff of the fox exercises on his pursuers; otter is probably an acquired taste, but when once a hound acknowledges it he will show untiring. resolution. The bassett is a recent introduction from France, and has proved himself to be a hound with exceptional qualities, though he is so very slow that he is never likely to become generally popular. It is a curious sight to see the long bodies of a pack of bassetts undulating, as it were, over the ridges of a ploughed field, and obstacles are occasionally found over which they have to be carefully lifted by their friends-an operation which provokes a smile when contrasted with the ardour and dash with which a pack of foxhounds crash through their fences. A fine pack of bassetts was some time since owned and hunted by Lord Onslow of Clandon Park, Surrey, now Master of the Ripley and Knaphill Harriers. After giving up the practice of hunting with bassetts his lordship occasionally took one of these hounds out with a pack of beagles, and informs us that the animal's ability to run a cold scent was very remarkable-for this gift and the bassett's beautiful deep voice are his peculiar points. Frequently the beagles would check after a spurt, in which the slow-travelling bassett would be left behind. He would come plodding along at his own pace, and rarely, or never, failed to hit off the line. In this country the dachshund is not Unlike known in connection with sport. the bassett, which in shape he to some extent resembles, the dachshund has a sharp unmusical note. He has also a very hard mouth. If by chance fur or feather comes between his teeth it is usually mangled before he can be induced to let go his hold. The dachshund's friends might reply to this charge that it is not his business to retrieve, and the contention is just. Though nominally coming within the title of this article, the greyhound cannot properly be included, as he does not run by scent, but by sight, and it is questionable whether the name is not a corruption of "gaze-hound"; nor can pointers, setters, or retrievers be discussed, for though their work is done by nose they are not hounds. The deer-hound, again, does not hunt in packs, and, indeed, it is an unfortunate circumstance that this noble animal is rarely seen in the Of hounds proper, to return to the subject, Each one of these packs, besides the healthful sport it provides, involves the expenditure of a very large sum of money in manifold ways. It is impossible to say where the list ends of those who draw benefit directly or indirectly from a pack of hounds, seeing that there must be included those who breed and sell horses; those who grow and supply forage; makers of saddlery and stable necessaries; those who provide entertainment for the horses' owners and equipment for riders; grooms, stable boys and servants generally to trace what may be called the pecuniary influence of a pack of hounds, would be in fact an unending task; and it all arises from the simple circumstance that the hound is gifted with a keen nose! ALFRED E. T. WATSON. FEW of us are blessed with a mouth that pleases us, a satisfactory nose, eyes we would not wish to change; discontent avails us little, for we must live our lives through with the features Nature has given us. But let our hair be never so straight and colourless, it is in our power to twist it into what shape we will, to alter its very hue; we can even bodily exchange our locks for those of another. And in all times, the control which we have over this, our one natural ornament, has been duly appreciated; we have curled it, crimped it, dyed it, stuffed it, larded it, and built it up in all manner of shapes: the inventive genius of the hairdresser having at times equalled, if not surpassed, that of the pastrycook, both in ingenuity of form, and in the complete disguise of ingredients. Prized, and tenderly cared for, there have been times when the hair was almost held sacred; when to neglect it was a sign of selfabnegation or of terrible sorrow; when to cut it off was a mark of servitude. Thus, among the ancient Egyptians, a head of hair placed at the shrine of some deity was considered no slight offering; and the shaving of the head formed part of certain religious rites among both Egyptians and Phoenicians. Later, among the Franks, when long hair was a mark of royalty and men swore by their locks as they now swear by their honour, to cut a man's hair was to degrade him. Debtors unable to discharge their debts declared themselves the slaves of their creditors by presenting to them a pair of shears, for all bondmen wore their heads shaved; and indeed, the tonsure of priests is merely a sign that they are the serfs of Heaven. The custom of accounting equal to a godfather the person who first cut a child's hair is a curious instance of the exaggerated regard for hair which prevailed among the early Franks; still more curious, perhaps, was a certain form of salutation which consisted of plucking out a hair and presenting it to the person one wished to honour. Still, such an important and significant position has not always been held by the covering of our heads; the attention paid to it in most times has been the mere outcome of vanity-a legitimate desire to cultivate it, beautify it, show it to advantage, and generally improve upon nature hence hair dyes, abnormal erections, and wigs. It is colour and not form that first strikes the uncultivated eye; and man appears to have dyed his hair before he dressed it in any way. That the Britons did so, we know from Propertius, who, writing to Cynthia, blames her for flaunting forth a head bright with unnatural splendour, in imitation of the dyed Britons. We also know that the Gauls dyed their hair a brilliant red, with a compound of beech-cinders and goat's fat. The secret of this preparation they left to the Franks, who established a factory at Mattium (now Wiesbaden), whence they exported large quantities of the dye to Rome; for the Roman ladies, after the German wars had become very partial to what they chose to call honey-coloured and amber hair. At one time black hair was all the rage. Pliny has handed down to us some curious receipts for hair dyes. One, particularly loathsome, consists of a quantity of leeches and vinegar allowed to ferment for sixty days in a leaden vessel; this preparation had to be applied to the head in the full sunshine, and so great was its strength, that the person using it had to hold oil in her mouth during the operation, lest her teeth also should turn black! These injurious compounds, together with the crisping and curling then so much in vogue, ruined many a fine head of hair. Ovid gives us a sad picture of a young lady who finally became bald, and then had to send to Germany for "the hair of slaves." The fair hair of the Franks had indeed become a most lucrative article of trade; and it is easy to understand that false hair must have been very extensively used by the Roman ladies under the Empire, when we examine, in contemporary sculptures, the monuments of curls, tier above tier, and the countless plaits, with which they were pleased to adorn their heads. So many and so various were the fashions, that Ovid says it would have been easier to count the acorns on a wide-spread oak, the wild beasts of the Alps, or the bees of Hybla, than the infinite number of head-dresses that came out every day. Indeed, sculptors sometimes provided the busts of their fair sitters with movable head-dresses, that the very representations of these worldly ladies might keep pace with the fashions. Two such busts are in existence; the one, of Julia Semiamara, mother of Heliogabalus, is at Berlin; the other, of Lucilla, at the Capitol. The fall of the Roman Empire put an end to these excesses; but Roman luxury lingered some while among the Gallo-Romans, and we are told that false hair, dyeing, and gold-powder, greatly excited the indignation of the clergy, who at one time actually threatened with excommunication all such as curled their hair by artificial means. The head-dresses of the Franks were excessively simple, but somewhat eccentric. Sidonius Apollinaris, who lived among them in the fifth century, says that it was fashionable for the men of his day to tie their long hair together above the forehead, and to let the ends flow down their backs like a horse's tail. They were also accustomed sometimes to cut short the hair at the back of their heads, and to tie the remainder into a knob on the forehead. This fashion reappeared among the Normans in the eleventh century; but with them the front hair was only a few inches long, and stuck up like the crest of a bird. Illustrations of this are to be seen in the Bayeux tapestry. All superstitious regard for long tresses appears to have died out with the Merovingians in the seventh century, after which hair was for some while kept short, the length varying, at different periods by two or three inches, until in the eleventh century long hair, very much curled, was once more sported by the French nobles. The Normans, who, |