LETTER XV. 



I LEFT off just as I had found the fox: I now, 

 therefore, with your leave, will suppose that the 

 hounds are running him. You desire that I would 

 be more particular with regard to the men : it was 

 always my intention. To begin, then — The hunts- 

 man ought certainly to set off with his foremost 

 hounds, and I should wish him to keep as close to 

 them afterwards as he conveniently can ; nor can 

 any harm arise from it, unless he should not have 

 common sense. No hounds then can slip down the 

 wind, and get out of his hearing : he will also see 

 how far they carry the scent ; necessary requisite ; 

 — for, without it, he never can make a cast with 

 any certainty. 



You will find it not less necessary for your hunts- 

 man to be active in pressing his hounds forward, 1 

 while the scent is good, than to be prudent in not 

 hurrying them beyond it when it is bad. Yours, 

 you say is a good horseman : it is of the utmost 

 consequence to your sport ; nor is it possible for a 



1 Pressing hounds on, is perhaps a dangerous expression ; as more 

 harm may be done by pressing them beyond the scent, when it is good, 

 than when it is bad. However, it means no more than to get forward 

 the tail hounds, and to encourage the others to push on as fast as they 

 can while the scent serves them. 



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