118 ON BLOODING HOUNDS 



wonder what remedy for this state of things would 

 be suggested by the critics who are always ready to 

 blame a huntsman who digs a fox for his hounds? — 

 this being, I have also remarked, considered to be 

 a crime unpardonable if done on a good scenting day ; 

 for the sufficient reason, of course, that the critic 

 conceives that the time employed might be better 

 occupied in looking for another fox to give him a 

 gallop, the needs of the hounds receiving no thought 

 or consideration whatever. 



Yet were I huntsman of a pack of hounds that was 

 short of blood, the good-scenting day is the one that 

 I would select to blood my hounds by the use of the 

 spade or terrier, for on such a day even slack hounds 

 become keener ; they will mark their fox with energy 

 and determination, and if they get hold of him when 

 in this mood, should break him up savagely, when 

 probably a cure will be then and there effected. 



It can be truly said that on everything connected 

 with the chase Beckford's opinions remain as invalu- 

 able at the present day as they were when first given 

 to the public ; for, although the great Peter hunted 

 in the Stour Valley and on Cranbourne Chase one 

 hundred and thirty years ago, so much in the system 

 that he recommends must be accepted as unquestion- 

 ably correct, that we must conclude the author was 

 a sportsman considerably in advance of his age. For 

 instance, he is all for " style " in fox-hunting. " Most 

 fox-hunters," he says in the fifteenth letter, " wish to 

 see their hounds run in good style. I confess I am 

 myself one of these. I hate to see a string of them, 

 nor can I bear to see them creep where they can 



