54 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



Loud-clam'ring seize the helpless worried wretch, 

 And, thirsting for his blood, drag diff rent ways 

 His mangled carcass on th' ensanguin'd plain. 

 O, breasts of pity void ! t' oppress the weak, 

 To point your vengeance at the friendless head, 

 And with one mutual cry insult the fall'n ! 

 Emblem too just of man's degen'rate race. 



If you find that they take a dislike to any particular 

 hound, the safest way will be to remove him, or it is 

 probable they will kill him at last. When a feeder 

 hears the hounds quarrel in the kennel, he halloos to 

 them to stop them. He then goes in among them, 

 and flogs every hound he can come near. How much 

 more reasonable, as well as more efficacious, would it 

 be, were he to see which were the combatants, before 

 he speaks to them ? Punishment would then fall, as 

 it ought, on the guilty only. In all packs there are 

 some hounds more quarrelsome than the rest ; and it 

 is to them we owe all the mischief that is done. If 

 you find that chastisement cannot quiet them, it 

 may be prudent to break their holders ; for since they 

 are not necessary to them for the meat they have to 

 eat, they are not likely to serve them in any good 

 purpose. 



Young hounds ought to be fed twice a day, as they 

 seldom take kindly at first to the kennel meat, and the 

 distemper is most apt to seize them at this time. It is 

 better not to round them till they are thoroughly 

 settled ; nor should it be put off till the hot weather, 

 for then they would bleed too much. 1 If any of the 



1 It may be better, perhaps, to round them at their quarters, when 

 about six months old ; should it be done sooner, it would make their ears 



