120 ON BLOODING HOUNDS 



exaggerated way of putting the case, but Beckford 

 writes entirely from the view of the houndsman, and 

 in no part of his work, not even in his immortal 

 description of a fox-hunt, does he descant upon the 

 pleasures of riding as they appear to him, though in 

 the beginning of his seventeenth letter he reads us a 

 lecture which, though it has been often quoted, will 

 stand repetition. " Fox-hunting, an acquaintance of 

 mine says, is only to be favoured because you can 

 ride hard and do less harm in that than any other 

 kind of hunting. There may be some truth in the 

 observation ; but to such as love the riding part only 

 of hunting, would not a trail-scent be more suitable? 

 Gentlemen who hunt for the sake of a ride, who are 

 indifferent about the hounds, and know little of the 

 business, if they do no harm, fulfil as much as we have 

 reason to expect from them, whilst those of a contrary 

 disposition do good, and have much greater pleasure. 

 Such as are acquainted with hounds and can at times 

 assist them, find the sport more interesting, and fre- 

 quently have the satisfaction to think that they them- 

 selves contribute to the success of the day." 



So that even in Beckford's day there were "such 

 as love the riding part only of hunting," and were 

 "indifferent about the hounds." The gentlemen of 

 this kidney who hunted with the great Peter, I fear, 

 must have viewed with as much impatience as we see 

 manifested nowadays his very decided determination 

 that his hounds should have plenty of blood. 



"You desire to know," he writes in the twenty- 

 second letter, " what I call being out of blood ? In 

 answer to which I must tell you that, in my judgment, 



