SLACKNESS IN THE HOUNDS 233 



be made to tie upon the scent, by improper manage- 

 ment. 1 



It is youth, and good spirits, which suit best with 

 fox-hunting : slackness in the men occasions slackness 

 in the hounds ; and one may see, by the manner in 

 which hounds hunt, what kind of men they have 

 been accustomed to. The speediest hounds may, by 

 degrees, be rendered slow ; and it is impossible for the 

 best to do their business as they ought, unless followed 

 with life and spirit. Men who are slack themselves, 

 will be always afraid of hurrying their hounds too 

 much ; and, by carrying this humour too far, will com- 

 mit a fault which has nothing to excuse it. The best 

 method to hunt a fox, they say, is never, upon any ac- 

 count, to cast the hounds ; but, on the contrary, to let 

 them tie upon the scent as long as they will, and that 

 they will hit it off at last. I agree with them partly : 

 it certainly must be the best method to hunt a fox ; 

 for, by this means, you may hunt him from morning 

 till night ; and, if you have the luck to find him, may 

 hunt him again the next day : the likeliest method, 

 however, to kill him, is to take every advantage of 

 him that you can. 



All hounds go fast enough with a good scent ; but 

 it is the particular excellence of a fox-hound, when 

 rightly managed, to get on faster with an indifferent 

 scent than any other hound : 2 it is the business of a 



1 It more frequently is owing either to want of patience, or want of 

 mettle, than to want of nose, that a hound does not hunt well. 



- It is a quick method of hunting, that I mostly value in any hound : 

 such as are possessed of it, are seldom long off the scent : it is the 

 reverse of slackness. 



