6 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



of a fellow who is frequently a greater brute than 

 the creature on which he rides. I would not be 

 understood to mean by this, that a huntsman should 

 be a scholar, or that every gentleman should hunt 

 his own hounds. It is not necessary a huntsman 

 should be a man of letters : but give me leave to 

 observe, that, had he the best understanding, he 

 would frequently find opportunities of exercising it, 

 and intricacies which might put it to the test. You 

 will say, perhaps, there is something too laborious 

 in the occupation of a huntsman, for a gentleman 

 to take it upon himself; you may also think it is 

 beneath him : I agree with you in both ; yet I hope 

 that he may have leave to understand it. — If he 

 follow the diversion, it is a sign of his liking it ; 

 and if he like it, surely it is some disgrace to him 

 to be ignorant of the means most conducive to it. 



I find there will be no necessity to say much to you 

 in commendation of a diversion which you professedly 

 admire i 1 it would be needless, therefore, to enumerate 

 the heroes of antiquity who were taught the art of 

 hunting, or the many great men (among whom was 



1 Since the above was written, hunting has undergone a severe cen- 

 sure (vide Monthly Review for September, 1781); nor will anything 

 satisfy the critic, less than its total abolition. He recommends feats of 

 agility to be practised and exhibited instead of it. Whether the amend- 

 ment proposed by the learned gentleman be desirable or not, I shall for- 

 bear to determine; taking the liberty, however, to remind him, that as 

 hunting hath stood its ground from the earliest times, been encouraged 

 and approved by the best authorities, and practised by the greatest men, 

 it cannot now be supposed either to dread criticism, or to need support. 

 Hunting originates in Nature itself; and it is in perfect correspondence 

 with this law of Nature, that the several animals are provided with neces- 

 sary means of attack and defence. 



