LETTER XXIII. 



I TOLD you, I believe, at the beginning of our 

 correspondence, that I disliked bag-foxes : I shall 

 now tell you what my objections to them are : — the 

 scent of them is different from that of other foxes : it 

 is too good, and makes hounds idle ; besides, in the 

 manner in which they generally are turned out, it 

 makes hounds very wild : they seldom fail to know 

 what you are going about before you begin ; and, 

 if often used to hunt bag-foxes, will become riotous 

 enough to run any thing. A fox that has been con- 

 fined long in a small place, and carried out afterwards 

 in a sack, many miles perhaps, his own ordure hanging 

 about him, must needs stink extravagantly. You are 

 also to add to this account, that he most probably is 

 weakened for want of his natural food and usual 

 exercise ; his spirit broken by despair, and his limbs 

 stiffened by confinement: he then is turned out in open 

 ground, without any point to go to. He runs down 

 the wind, it is true ; but he is so much at a loss all the 

 while, that he loses a deal of time, in not knowing what 

 to do ; while the hounds, who have no occasion to 

 hunt, pursue as closely as if they were tied to him. 

 I remember once to have hunted a bag-fox with a 

 gentleman, who, not thinking these advantages enough, 

 poured a whole bottle of aniseed on the fox's back. I 



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