The Southern Hound was a breed of dog that existed in Britain probably until sometime in the 19th century, now extinct. The exact date of its extinction is not known; it is likely that it was gradually interbred with other breeds until the genuine Southern Hound bloodline ceased to exist.
32-675: The origins of the Southern Hound are equally unclear. Most writers suggest that it is derived from the Talbot , which was a predominantly white, slow, deep-throated, scent hound , also of uncertain origin, though it is sometimes claimed that it came from Normandy . It is suggested that at some point the Talbot was crossed with Greyhounds to give them an extra turn of speed. However, in The Dog published in 1852, William Youatt states that
64-573: A cross to his bloodhounds, and this outcross was bred on into the modern population of bloodhounds. Many of the modern hound breeds are believed to have Southern Hound blood: Beagles , Harriers , Foxhounds , Coonhounds and Bloodhounds among others. Talbot (dog) The Talbot (also known as the St. Hubert Hound) was a type of hunting hound common in England during the Middle Ages . It
96-582: A hound name in George Turberville's 1575 work The Noble Art of Venerie or Huntyng . By the 17th century it clearly existed as a breed or type. Large, heavy, slow hounds were "talbot-like", whatever their colour, though the "milk white" was "the true talbot". In his poem "The Chase", published in 1735, William Somervile describes the use of " lime-hounds " (leash hounds) on the Scottish Borders to catch thieves, obviously referring to
128-439: A more subtle agenda, however. Though they may be Aesopic at base, often the original storyline is modified so as to make a contemporary statement. The situation of the ancient fable of the lion, the boar and the vultures has been given the modern context of bear-baiting in which the dog and bear contestants suddenly gain an insight into how their virtues are being exploited in ways that harm rather than benefit themselves. Again,
160-574: A poem on hawking. The poems continued to be republished for the best part of a century after they first appeared but, The Chace apart, criticism of them was generally guarded. For Samuel Johnson , "Somervile has tried many modes of poetry; and though perhaps he has not in any reached such excellence as to raise much envy, it may commonly be said at least, that "he writes very well for a gentleman"... His subjects are commonly such as require no great depth of thought or energy of expression. His fables are generally stale and therefore excite no curiosity." In
192-468: A purpose-built factory at Barlby Road, Kensington, London and sold as Talbots until 1937. It is now used on the logo of the Talbot Owners' Club. The arms of Bournemouth University have three Talbots on the shield, a reference to there being a University Campus on Talbot Heath. "The Talbot" (or "Talbot Arms") is most familiar as a name of English public houses or inns and is usually depicted on
224-473: A tribute in a letter which hints at the strained relations with his friends in later life: Our old friend Somervile is dead! I did not imagine I could have been so sorry as I find myself on the occasion. Sublatum querimus . I can now excuse all his foibles: impute them to age, and to distress of circumstances. The last of these circumstances wrings my very soul to think on. For a man of high spirit, conscious of having (at least in one production) generally pleased
256-410: Is depicted in art of the period as small to medium-sized, white in colour, with short legs, large powerful feet, a deep chest with a slender waist, long drooping ears, and a very long curled tail. It is shown in one well-known example at Haddon Hall with a fierce facial expression. It is now extinct , but is believed to be an ancestor of the modern Beagle and Bloodhound . It is uncertain whether it
288-548: Is quite plausible that from these beginnings the name "Talbot" was extended to any large, heavy, white scent hound, and from there helped to establish a breed or type. It was certainly similar to the Bloodhound ("white" is given as one of the colours of the Bloodhound in the 16th and 17th centuries) as regards size, and as regards use to a leash-hound. As earliest references to this dog are much later than those to Bloodhounds, it cannot convincingly be regarded as an ancestor of
320-619: The Somerville Family . William raised at the family seat of Edstone, near Wootton Wawen in Warwickshire. He was educated at Winchester College and at New College, Oxford , and then studied law at the Middle Temple . After his father's death in 1705 he lived on his estate and devoted himself to the field sports which were eventually to supply the subjects of his best-known poems. Among his friends and neighbours were
352-418: The Bloodhound and the sleuth hound , but adds that the (white) Talbot was the "prime" example of this type of hound. The origin of both the name and the animal is uncertain. In a quotation from about 1449, the king referred to John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury as "Talbott, oure good dogge", perhaps as a play on his name, or in allusion to that family's heraldic badge . In a 1445 illuminated manuscript in
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#1732772458805384-543: The Bloodhound. The Talbot seems to have existed as a breed, a little distinct from the Bloodhound, until the end of the 18th century, after which, like two other large breeds to which it may have been related, the Northern Hound and the Southern Hound , it disappeared. Some early dog-shows apparently offered classes for Talbots, but attracted no entrants, so they were dropped. The mayor and corporation of
416-553: The British Library John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury is depicted presenting a Book of Romances to Queen Margaret of Anjou , with a short-legged and long-eared white hound standing behind him, which serves to identify him symbolically. It is very similar to a 15th-century depiction on a ceiling at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, made following the marriage of Sir Henry Vernon (1445–1515) to Ann Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury . The Talbot and
448-565: The Greyhound were, apparently, the only hounds used in English heraldry , and it could be that the Talbot originated as an emblematic or heraldic hound. References to this heraldic Talbot seem to be earlier than any references to a real dog. The Talbot appears in many coats of arms , for instance in later ones of the Earls of Shrewsbury, in which two Talbots appear as supporters . [1] It
480-553: The Southern Hound may have existed in Britain since ancient times rather than being brought from France by the Normans . The Southern Hound was a tall, heavy dog with a square head, and long ears. It had a deep chest, a long bony body and a deep melodious voice. It was a slow dog, but with excellent scenting abilities and was employed to follow the trail of the quarry during a hunt. Because of its lack of speed and deliberate nature, it
512-498: The Southern Hound. In his The Dog, in Health and Disease in 1859, "Stonehenge" (the pen name of John Henry Walsh, editor of The Field ) magazine says the two breeds could be differentiated by the large dewlap present in the Southern Hound, but the illustration of the Southern Hound in the same book lacks this detail. How far the Talbot, Northern Hound and Southern Hound were intermixed is impossible to ascertain: authors writing in
544-511: The blowing of horns. William Somervile William Somervile or Somerville (2 September 1675 – 17 July 1742) was an English poet who wrote in many genres and is especially remembered for "The Chace", in which he pioneered an early English georgic . Somervile, the eldest son of a long established country family, was born in Staffordshire in 1677. He was a descendant of Roger de Somerville, of an English branch of
576-572: The cold trail when the pack lost the scent. Some were employed in Wales on polecat hunts (that could last several days), and they appear to have been used to hunt otter before being employed as breeding stock for the development of the Otterhound . The famous bloodhound breeder Edwin Brough reported that in 1881 he used a pure bred Southern Hound, "Clara", like the one pictured in this article as
608-457: The county town of Stafford, Staffordshire. It used to be used in all school stationery and was displayed as white on a navy blue background on ties and jumpers in the school uniform. It was removed when Weston Road became an academy. The Talbot also appears as a supporter in the arms of the Marquess of Sligo . The Earl of Talbot and Shrewsbury coat of arms was used on Talbot cars manufactured at
640-432: The eyes of John Aikin , a little later, "He is strictly and almost solely a descriptive poet…Little occurs in his writings that indicates a mind inspired by that exalted enthusiasm which denotes the genius of superior rank. His versification is generally correct and well varied, and evidently flows from a nice and practiced ear… His Chase is probably the best performance upon that topic which any country has produced." But by
672-660: The inn for the illiterate. An inn called The Talbot in Iwerne Minster , Dorset, U.K., showed as its sign a black dog, apparently the crest of the Bower family, who owned the manor from the late Middle Ages till 1876. The "Talbot Inn" in Mells, Somerset is an allusion to the arms of the Horner family of Mells Manor : Sable, three talbots argent , the arms being possibly a play on the surname as hunting hounds are controlled by
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#1732772458805704-499: The market town of Sudbury, Suffolk , has for arms: Sable, a talbot hound sejeant argent on a chief gules a lion passant guardant between two fleurs-de-lys or (a white hound sitting erect). The crest is A talbot head and neck erased . Such a hound is also used as a logo for a local school and for many local sports clubs. The dog is always depicted with its tongue protruding. This refers to Simon de Sudbury (c.1316–1381), Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England , born in
736-482: The mid-19th century were already having difficulty distinguishing between the three breeds. The Southern Hound seems to have fallen out of favour during the 18th century as the fashion for shorter hunts led to the development of the faster Foxhound . Youatt wrote that there were still packs in use in Devon in the 19th century and that the Southern Hound was sometimes used in conjunction with Foxhound packs to help pick up
768-600: The poets William Shenstone , Richard Jago and George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton . Later he was a correspondent of Allan Ramsay and they exchanged poems. But Somervile's convivial hospitality strained his small personal income and plunged him into debt. Eventually he took to drinking heavily and died on 17 July 1742 at the age of 66. After his death he was buried in the church at Wootton Wawen and his estate passed to James Lord Somerville under an arrangement in which Lord Somerville had lent him money to pay his debts. Following Somervile's death, William Shenstone paid him
800-439: The signs as a large white hound with hanging ears, sometimes with spots. Heraldic inn signs usually displayed the arms or heraldic badges of the lord of the manor in which they were situated, who was probably the owner of the freehold interest, together with that of most other houses in the village. As the Talbot family possessed countless manors throughout England, the sign would have been well-known. Such signs helped to identify
832-403: The story of The Trumpeter Taken Captive takes place against a background of contemporary Anglo-French military rivalry and is directed against those who stir up war, from which they profit without taking part. Both fables were written at a time when Robert Walpole was commanding popular support for a pacific foreign policy and accord with the spirit of the time. The fashion for fable-writing
864-475: The time of The Cambridge History of English Literature (1913), the attitude is plainly dismissive: "Much of his verse is poor doggerel in the form of fables and tales, dull and coarse after the usual manner of such productions". Such a judgment might certainly be applied to a performance like "The Fortune Hunter", in which La Fontaine's fable of The Man who Runs after Fortune (VII.12) is expanded into five cantos that ramble over sixty pages. Other fables have
896-596: The town, whose coat of arms was A talbot hound sejeant within a bordure engrailed , as is visible sculpted in stone on a wall in the nave of the Canterbury Cathedral . The arms of the Carter family of Castle Martin (see Carter-Campbell of Possil ) include a Talbot. The arms of the Earls Waldegrave have supporters of two Talbots. The Talbot Hound was also the symbol of Weston Road High School in
928-561: The world, to be plagued and threatened by wretches that are low in every sense: to be forced to drink himself into pains of the body, in order to get rid of pains of the mind, is misery indeed. Somervile's publications were The Two Springs (1725), a fable; Occasional Poems (1727); The Chace ("The Chase") (1735); Hobbinol, or the Rural Games (1740), a burlesque poem describing the Cotswold Games ; and Field Sports (1742),
960-461: Was a scenthound (bred for the quality of its nose), a sighthound (bred for the quality of sight and speed), or a dog used for digging out quarry , nor is it known what type of quarry it hunted, whether deer, fox, boar, etc. In medieval times, "Talbot" was a common name for an individual hound, as used before 1400 in Chaucer 's " The Nun's Priest's Tale " (line 3383), and is used as an example of
992-425: Was at its height when Somervile produced his. Though there is some novelty in his approach, his discursive talent was better suited to The Chace , the work for which he is best remembered. That poem was also only the period's third georgic poem on an English subject, having been preceded by Cyder (1708) by John Philips and Rural Sports (1713) by John Gay . It consists of four cantos, the first of which introduces
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1024-548: Was considered best used for hunting game such as hare or deer , which would eventually be exhausted by its relentless pursuit and, unlike a fox or rabbit, could not escape to the safety of a den or burrow . It was still common south of the River Trent in the 18th century. Further north the North Country Beagle or Northern Hound was favoured. This was a faster dog but probably lacked the delicate nose of
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