FOX-HUNTING 



steadily they draw ! you hear not a single hound, yet none of 

 them are idle. Is not this better than to be subject to con- 

 tinual disappointment from the eternal babbling of unsteady 

 hounds ? 



' How musical their tongues ! — And as they get nearer to 

 him how the chorus fills ! — Hark ! he is found — Now, where 

 are all your sorrows, and your cares, ye gloomy souls ! Or 

 where your pains and aches, ye complaining ones ! one halloo 

 has dispelled them all. — ^What a crash they make ! and echo 

 seemingly takes pleasure to repeat the sound. The astonished 

 traveller forsakes his road, lured by its melody ; the listening 

 plowman now stops his plow; and every distant shepherd 

 neglects his flock, and runs to see him break. — What joy; 

 what eagerness in every face ! 



' Mark how he runs the cover's utmost limits, yet dares not 

 venture forth ; the hounds are still too near ! — That check is 

 lucky ! — ^Now, if our friends head him not, he will soon be off — 

 hark ! they halloo : by G — d he 's gone ! Now, huntsman, get 

 on with the head hounds ; the whipper-in will bring on the 

 others after you : keep an attentive eye on the leading hounds, 

 that should the scent fail them, you may know at least how far 

 they brought it. Mind Galloper, how he leads them ! — It is 

 difficult to distinguish which is first, they run in such a style ; 

 yet he is the foremost hound. — The goodness of his nose is not 

 less excellent than his speed : — how he carries the scent ! and 

 when he loses it, see how eagerly he slings to recover it again ! — 

 There — now he 's at head again ! — See how they top the hedge ! 

 — ^Now, how they mount the hill ! — Observe what a head they 

 carry, and shew me, if thou canst, one shuffler or skirter amongst 

 them all ; are they not like a parcel of brave fellows, who, when 

 they engage in an undertaking, determine to share its fatigues 

 and its dangers, equally amongst them ? It was, then, the fox 

 I saw, as we came down the hill ; — those crows directed me 

 which way to look, and the sheep ran from him as he passed 

 along. The hounds are now on the very spot, yet the she^ 

 stop them not, for they dash beyond them. Now see with 



