8 FOX HUNTING. 



hounds after breakfast, "took the drag of a fox on 

 the side of Hunting Creek near the Cedar gut, 

 carried it through Muddy Hole plantation into 

 the woods back of it and lost it near the Main 

 Road." And on December 8th, of same year, he 

 says: "Went a-hunting after breakfast; about 

 noon found a fox, which the dogs run for some 

 time in woods through which there was no fol- 

 lowing them, so whether they caught or lost it 

 is uncertain." The diary also shows hunts on 

 December 22d, 26th, and 28th, of same year, with 

 only a short run on the last day. Under date of 

 February 2d, 1789, the diary has this entry: "On 

 my way home met Mr. George Calvert on his 

 way to Arlington with the hounds I had lent him, 

 viz. Vulcan & Venus (from France) Ragman & 

 2 other dogs (from England) Dutchess & Doxey 

 (from Philadelphia) Tryal, Jupiter & Countess 

 (descended from the French hounds)." 



It will be seen by this that the Virginia 

 hounds were crossed with EngHsh and French 

 strains of blood, and that Philadelphia hunters 

 had a stock of hounds that Washington was 

 pleased to have in his pack. 



This diary shows fully the pleasure Washing- 

 ton took in hunting, and that it was enough of 

 an event in his life to be entered in the records 

 of it. 



