30 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



say, a fox-hound should be above his work, it will 

 not be a young fox-hound that I shall mean ; for 

 he should seldom be left at home, as lone as he is 

 able to hunt : the old and lame, and such as are low 

 in flesh, you should leave ; and such as you are 

 sure idleness cannot spoil. 



It is a great fault to keep too many old hounds. 

 If you choose that your hounds should run well 

 together, you should not continue any, longer than 

 five or six seasons ; though there is no saying, with 

 certainty, what number of seasons a hound will last. 

 Like us, some of them have better constitutions than 

 others, and consequently will bear more work ; and 

 the duration of all bodies depends as much on the 

 usage that they meet with, as on the materials of 

 which they are made. 



You ask, whether you had not better buy a com- 

 plete pack at once, than be at the trouble of breeding 

 one ? Certainly you had, if such an opportunity 

 should offer. It sometimes happens, that hounds are 

 to be bought for less money than you could breed 

 them. The gentleman to whom my house formerly 

 belonged, had a most famous pack of fox-hounds. 

 His goods, &c, were appraised and sold; which, 

 when the appraiser had done, he was put in mind 

 of the hounds. " Well, gentlemen," said he, " what 

 shall I appraise them at ? A shilling a-piece ? " 

 "Oh, it is too little!" "Is it so?" said the 

 appraiser — " why, it is more than / would give for 

 them, I assure you." 



Hounds are not bought so cheap at Tatter saWs. 



