LETTER IX. 



THE variety of questions which you are pleased 

 to ask concerning the huntsman, will perhaps 

 be better answered when we are on the subject of 

 hunting. In the mean time, I will endeavour to 

 describe what a good huntsman should be. He 

 should be young, strong, active, bold, and enterprising; 

 fond of the diversion, and indefatigable in the pursuit 

 of it : he should be sensible and good-tempered ; he 

 ought also to be sober: he should be exact, civil, and 

 cleanly ; he should be a good horseman and a good 

 groom : his voice should be strong and clear ; and he 

 should have an eye so quick, as to perceive which of 

 his hounds carries the scent when all are running"; and 

 should have so excellent an ear, as always to 

 distinguish the foremost hounds when he does not 

 see them : he should be quiet, patient, and without 

 conceit. Such are the excellences which constitute a 

 good huntsman : he should not, however, be too fond 

 of displaying them till necessity calls them forth : he 

 should let his hounds alone whilst they can hunt, and 

 he should have genius to assist them when they cannot. 

 With regard to the whipper-in, as you keep two of 

 them (and no pack of fox-hounds is complete without), 

 the first may be considered as a second huntsman, and 



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