206 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



will then be so confident that they will not return to 

 him again. 



Were fox-hounds to stop, like stag-hounds, at the 

 smack of a whip, they would not do their business the 

 worse for it, and it would give you many advantages, 

 very essential to your sport ; — such as, when they have 

 to wait under a cover-side ; when they run riot ; when 

 they change scents ; when a single hound is on before ; 

 and when a fox is headed back into a cover. Hounds 

 that are not under good command, subject you to 

 many inconveniencies ; and you may, at times, be 

 obliged to go out of your way, or be made to draw a 

 cover against your will. A famous pack of hounds in 



my neighbourhood, I mean the late Lord C n's, 



had no fault but what had its rise from bad manage- 

 ment : nor is it possible to do any thing with a pack 

 of fox-hounds, unless they be obedient : they should 

 both love and fear the huntsman : they should fear 

 him much, yet they should love him more. Without 

 doubt, hounds would do more for the huntsman, if 

 they loved him better. Dogs that are constantly with 

 their masters, acquire a wonderful deal of penetration, 

 and much may be done through the medium of their 

 affections. I attribute the extraordinary sagacity of 

 the buck-hound to the manner in which he is treated : 

 he is the constant companion of his instructor and 

 benefactor ; the man whom he was first taught to fear, 

 and has since learned to love. Ought we to wonder 

 that he should be obedient to him ? Yet who can 

 view without surprise, the hounds and the deer 

 amusing themselves familiarly together upon the same 



