THE AUTHOR'S DESIGN 277 



You have observed in one of your letters, that I 

 do not always follow my own rules ; and, as a proof of 

 it, you have remarked that many of my hounds are 

 oddly named. I cannot deny the charge. I leave a 

 great deal to my huntsman ; but if you aim at per- 

 fection, leave as little as you can help to yours. It 

 is easier, I believe, in every instance, to know what is 

 right, than it is to follow it ; but if the rules I have 

 given are good, what does it signify to you whether I 

 follow them or not ? A country fellow used to call 

 every directing post that he saw, a doctor. He 

 was asked, Why he called them so ? " Why, 

 master," said he, " I never see them but they put me 

 in mind of the parson of our parish, who constantly 

 points out a road to us which he does not follow 

 himself." 



If I can add to the amusement of such as follow 

 this diverson, I shall not think my time has been ill 

 employed ; and, if the rules which are here given may 

 any way tend to preserve that friendly animal, the 

 hound, from one unnecessary lash, I shall not think 

 they have been written in vain. 1 It never was my 



1 Strangely unfortunate should I think myself, if, while I profess to 

 be a friend to dogs, I should prove their bitterest enemy ; and if those 

 rules, which were intended to lessen, should increase their sufferings ; 

 convinced as I am by experience, that a regular system of education is the 

 surest means to render correction unnecessary. Hard is that heart (if any 

 such there be), which can ill-use a creature so affectionate and so good ; 

 who has renounced his native liberty to associate with man, to whose 

 service his whole life is dedicated ; who, sensible of every kindness, is 

 grateful for the smallest favour ; whilst the worst usage cannot estrange 

 his affection, in which he is, beyond all example, constant, faithful, and 

 disinterested ; who guards him by night and amuses him by day, and is, 

 perhaps, the only companion that will not forsake him in adversity. 



T 2 



