HUNTING YOUNG HOUNDS 225 



service to the pack ; and the taking him out at that 

 time may occasion him a long confinement afterwards: 

 put it not to the trial. Should any fall lame while they 

 are out, leave them at the first house that you come to. 



I have seen huntsmen hunt their young blood in 

 couples. Let me beg of you not to suffer it. I know 

 you would be sorry to see your hounds hanging across 

 a hedge, grinning at each other, perhaps in the very 

 agonies of death : yet it is an accident that often has 

 happened ; and it is an accident so likely to happen, 

 that I am surprised any man of common sense will 

 run the risk of it. If necessary, I would much rather 

 they should be held in couples at the cover-side, till 

 the fox be found. 



The two principal things which a huntsman has to 

 attend to, are the keeping of his hounds healthy and 

 steady. The first is attained by cleanliness and proper 

 food ; the latter, by putting as seldom as possible any 

 unsteady ones among them. 



At the beginning of the season, let him be attentive 

 to get his hounds well in blood. As the season ad- 

 vances, and foxes become stout, attention then should 

 be given to keeping them as vigorous as possible. It 

 is a great fault, when hounds are suffered to become 

 too high in flesh at the beginning of the season, or too 

 low afterwards. 



When a fox is lost, the huntsman, on his return 

 home, should examine into his own conduct, and en- 

 deavour to find in what he might have done better : 

 he may, by this means, make the very loss of a fox of 

 use to him. 

 Q 



