230 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



madmen know ; and it is the enthusiasm, I believe, 

 of fox-hunting, that is its best support : strip it of 

 that, and you had better leave it quite alone. 



The hounds themselves also differ in their manner 

 of hunting. The beagle, who has always his nose to 

 the ground, will puzzle an hour on one spot, sooner 

 than leave the scent ; while the fox-hound, full of life 

 and spirit, is always dashing and trying forward : — a 

 high-bred fox-hound, therefore shows himself to most 

 advantage when foxes are at their strongest, and run 

 an end. A pack of harriers will kill a cub better, 

 perhaps, than a pack of fox-hounds ; but, when foxes 

 are strong, they have not the method of getting on 

 with the scent which fox-hounds have, and generally 

 tire themselves before the fox. To kill foxes, when 

 they are strong, hounds must run, as well as hunt : 

 besides, catching a fox by hard running, is always pre- 

 ferred, in the opinion of a fox-hunter. 1 Much depends 

 on the style in which it is done ; and I think, without 

 being sophistical, a distinction might be made betwixt 

 hunting a fox and fox-hunting. Two hackneys be- 

 come not racers by running round a course : nor does 

 the mere hunting of a fox change the nature of the 

 harrier. I have also seen a hare hunted by high-bred 

 fox-hounds ; yet, I confess to you, it gave me not the 

 least idea of what hare-hunting ought to be. Certain 

 ideas are necessarily annexed to certain words — this 

 is the use of language — and when a fox-hound is 



f 1 A capital definition of fox-hunting, and yet we often see a hunts- 

 man in these days hunt a fox as he would a hare. This method may 

 occasionally result in the death of a fox after many weary hours, but, as 

 Beckford says, it is not fox-hunting.] 



