FOX-HUNTING 



steadily they draw ! you hear not a single hound, yet none of 

 them are idle. Is not this better than to be subject to con- 

 tinual disappointment from the eternal babbling of unsteady 

 hounds ? 



' How musical their tongues ! — And as they get nearer to 

 him how the chorus fills ! — Hark ! he is found — Now, where 

 are all your sorrows, and your cares, ye gloomy souls ! Or 

 where your pains and aches, ye complaining ones ! one halloo 

 has dispelled them all. — WTiat a crash they make ! and echo 

 seemingly takes pleasure to repeat the sound. The astonished 

 traveller forsakes his road, lured by its melody ; the listening 

 plowman now stops his plow ; and every distant shepherd 

 neglects his flock, and runs to see him break. — What joy; 

 what eagerness in every face ! 



' Mark how he runs the cover's utmost limits, yet dares not 

 venture forth ; the hounds are still too near ! — That check is 

 lucky ! — Now, if our friends head him not, he will soon be off — 

 hark ! they halloo : by G — d he 's gone ! Now, huntsman, get 

 on with the head hounds ; the whipper-in will bring on the 

 others after you : keep an attentive eye on the leading hounds, 

 that should the scent fail them, you may know at least how far 

 they brought it. Mind Galloper, how he leads them ! — It is 

 difficult to distinguish which is first, they run in such a style ; 

 yet he is the foremost hound. — The goodness of his nose is not 

 less excellent than his speed : — how he carries the scent ! and 

 when he loses it, see how eagerly he slings to recover it again ! — 

 There — now he 's at head again ! — See how they top the hedge ! 

 — Now, how they mount the hill ! — Observe what a head they 

 carry, and shew me, if thou canst, one shuffler or skirter amongst 

 them all ; are they not like a parcel of brave fellows, who, when 

 they engage in an undertaking, determine to share its fatigues 

 and its dangers, equally amongst them ? It was, then, the fox 

 I saw, as we came down the hill ; — those crows directed me 

 which way to look, and the sheep ran from him as he passed 

 along. The hounds are now on the very spot, yet the sheep 

 stop them not, for they dash beyond them. Now see with 



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