ENTHUSIASM NECESSARY 231 



mentioned, I should expect not only a particular kind 

 of hound, as to make, size, and strength (by which the 

 fox-hound is easy to be distinguished) ; but I should 

 also expect by fox-hunting, a lively, animated, and 

 eager pursuit, as the very essence of it. 1 Eagerness 

 and impetuosity are such essential parts of this diver- 

 sion, that I am never more surprised than when I see 

 a fox-hunter without them. One hold hard, or reproof, 

 tmnecessarily given, would chill me more than a north- 

 east wind ; it would damp my spirits, and send me 

 home. The enthusiasm of a fox-hunter should not 

 be checked in its career ; for it is the very life and 

 soul of fox-huntino-. 2 If it be the eagerness with 

 which you pursue your game that makes the chief 

 pleasure of the chase, fox-hunting surely should 

 afford the greatest degree of it ; since you pursue 

 no animal with the same eagerness that you pursue 

 a fox. 



Knowing your partiality to hounds that run in a 

 good style, I advise you to observe strictly your own, 

 when a fox is sinking in a strong cover : that is the 

 time to see the true spirit of a fox-hound. If they 



1 The six following lines may have a dangerous tendency. Only a 

 good sportsman can know when a reproof is given unnecessarily, and 

 only a bad one will be deserving of reproof. This passage, therefore, 

 should be compared with pages 129, 162, 165, 177, where the meaning 

 of the author is very clearly expressed. 



[ 2 Masters should read this sentence, for they may often spoil a good 

 sportsman's day by speaking harshly, and thereby chilling that enthu- 

 siasm which Beckford truly says is the life and soul of the sport. Strong 

 language rarely does any good, for to the sensitive and those who 

 are accidentally in the wrong, it is too severe, whilst to hardened 

 offenders and those who hunt only for the ride, it makes no impression 

 whatever.] 



