76 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



hunt. He draws small covers and furze brakes with 

 them, to use them to a halloo, and to teach them 

 obedience. If they find improper game, and hunt it, 

 they are stopped and brought back ; and as long as 

 they will stop at a rate, they are not chastised. 

 Obedience is all that is required of them, till they 

 have been sufficiently taught the game that they 

 are to pursue : an obstinate deviation from it after- 

 wards is never pardoned. It is an observation of the 

 Marchese Beccaria, that " La certezza di un castigo, 

 benche moderato, fara sempre una maggiore im- 

 pressione, che non il timore di un altro piu terribile, 

 unito colla speranza, della 'impunita." 



When my young hounds are taken out to air, my 

 huntsman takes them into that country in which they 

 are designed to hunt. It is attended with this 

 advantage : they acquire a knowledge of the country, 

 and, when left behind at any time, cannot fail to find 

 their way home more easily. 



When they begin to hunt, they are first taken into 

 a large cover of my own, which has many ridings cut 

 in it, and where young foxes are turned out every 

 year on purpose for them. Here they are taught the 

 scent that they are to follow, are encouraged to 

 pursue it, and are stopped from every other. Here 

 they are blooded to fox. I must also tell you, that, 

 as foxes are plentiful in this cover, the principal earth 

 is not stopped ; and the foxes are checked back, or 

 some of them let in, as may best suit the purpose 

 of blooding. After they have been hunted a few 

 days in this manner, they are then sent to more 



