LETTER V 



THERE is an active vanity in the minds of men which is favourable to 

 improvement ; and in every pursuit, while something remains to be 

 attained, so long will it afford amusement : you will therefore find pleasure 

 in the breeding of hounds, in which expectation is never completely satis- 

 fied ; and it is on the sagacious management of this business that all your 

 success will depend. Is it not extraordinary, that no other country should 

 equal us in this particular, and that the very hounds procured from hence 

 should degenerate in another climate ? 



In thee alone, fair land of liberty ! 



Is bred the perfect hound, in scent and speed 



As yet unrivall'd, while in other climes 



Their virtue fails, a weak degen'rate race. SOMERVILLE. 



Happy climate for sportsmen ! where Nature seems, as it were, to give them 

 an exclusive privilege of enjoying this diversion. To preserve this advan- 

 tage, however, care should be taken in the breed : I shall, therefore, accord- 

 ing to your desire, send you such rules as I observe myself. Consider the 

 size, shape, colour, constitution, and natural disposition, of the dog you 

 breed from, as well as the fineness of his nose, his stoutness, and method of 

 hunting. On no account breed from one that is not stout, that is not tender- 

 nosed, or that is either a babbler 1 or a skirter. 



Observe with care his shape, sort, colour, size : 

 Nor will sagacious huntsmen less regard 

 His inward habits ; the vain babbler shun, 

 Ever loquacious, ever in the wrong : 

 His foolish offspring shall offend thy ears 

 With false alarm, and loud impertinence : 

 Nor less the shifting cur avoid, that breaks 

 Illusive from the pack : to the next hedge 

 Devious he strays ; there ev'ry muse he tries : 

 If haply then he cross the streaming scent, 

 Away he flies vain-glorious ; and exults 

 As of the pack supreme, and in his speed 

 And strength unrivall'd. Lo ! cast far behind, 

 His vex'd associates pant, and lab'ring strain 

 To climb the steep ascent. Soon as they reach 

 Th' insulting boaster, his false courage fails ; 



1 Babbling is one of the worst faults that a hound can be guilty of ; it is constantly 

 increasing, and is also catching. This fault, like many others, will sometimes run in the blood. 



