LETTER XX. 



IN my seventeenth Letter, I gave you the opinion 

 of my friend * ### — " that a pack of fox-hounds, 

 if left entirely to themselves , would never lose a fox'' 

 I am always sorry when I differ from that gentleman 

 in anything ; yet I am so far from thinking they 

 never would lose a fox, that I doubt much if they 

 would ever kill one. There are times when hounds 

 should be helped, and at all times they must be 

 kept forward. Hounds will naturally tie on a cold 

 scent, when stopped by sheep, or other impediments ; 

 and, when they are no longer able to get forward, 

 will oftentimes hunt the old scent back again, if 

 they find that they can hunt no other. It is the 

 judicious encouraging of hounds to hunt, when they 

 cannot run, and the preventing them from losing 

 time by hunting too much when they might run, 

 that distinguishes a good sportsman from a bad one. 1 

 Hounds that have been well taught, will cast forward 

 to a hedge, of their own accord ; but you may 

 assure yourself that this excellence is never acquired 

 by such as are left entirely to themselves. To suffer 

 a pack of fox-hounds to hunt through a flock of sheep, 



1 In hunting a pack of hounds, a proper medium should be observed ; 

 for though too much help will make them slack, too little will make them 

 tie on the scent, and hunt back the heel. 



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