OBSERVATIONS ON THE HOUNDS 155 



escape hanging : let him be ever so good in other 

 respects, I will not excuse him ; for a pack must 

 be wretched indeed, that can stand in need of such 

 assistance. 



There is infinite pleasure in hearing a fox well 

 found. When you get up to his kennel with a good 

 drag, the chorus increasing as you go, it inspires a 

 joy, more easy to be felt than described. With 

 regard to my own sensations, I would rather hear one 

 fox found in this lively manner, than ride the best 

 hare-chase that was ever run. 



Much depends on the first finding of your fox : 

 dimidium facti^ qui bene ccepit, habet, which we 

 learned at Westminster, is verified here ; for I look 

 upon a fox well found to be half killed. I think 

 people generally are in too great a hurry on this 

 occasion. There is an enthusiasm attending this 

 diversion, which, in this instance in particular, ought 

 always to be restrained. 1 The hounds are always 

 mad enough when they find their fox : if the men be 

 also mad, they make mad work of it indeed. A 

 gentleman of my acquaintance, who hunts his own 

 hounds, and is not less eager than the rest of us, yet 

 very well knows the bad consequences of being so — 

 to prevent this fault in himself, always begins by 

 taking a pinch of snuff; he then sings part of an old 

 song, " Some say that care killed the cat" &c. By 

 this time his hounds get together, and settle to the 



1 There are but few instances where sportsmen are not too noisy and 

 too fond of encouraging their hounds, which seldom do their business so 

 well as when little is said to them. 



