LETTER VII 



UNLESS I had kept a regular journal of all that has been done in the 

 kennel, from the time when my young hounds were first taken in, 

 to the end of the last season, it would be impossible, I think, to answer 

 all the questions which, in your last Letter, you ask concerning them. I 

 wish that a memory, which is far from a good one, would enable me to 

 give the information that you desire. If I am to be more circumstantial 

 than in my former Letter, I must recollect as well as I can the regular 

 system of my own kennel ; and, if I am to write from memory, you will, 

 without doubt, excuse the want of the lucidus ordo. 1 It shall be my endea- 

 vour, that the information which these Letters contain shall not mislead 

 you. 



You wish me to explain what I mean by hounds being handy. It 

 respects their readiness to do whatever is required of them ; and par- 

 ticularly, when cast, to turn easily which way the huntsman pleases. 2 



I was told the other day by a sportsman, that he considers the man- 

 agement of hounds as a regular system of education, from the time when 

 they are first taken into the kennel : I perfectly agree with this gentleman ; 

 and am well convinced, that if you expect sagacity in your hound when 

 he is old, you must be mindful what instruction he receives from you in 

 his youth ; for as he is, of all animals, the most docile, he is also most liable 

 to bad habits. A diversity of character, constitution, and disposition, 

 are to be observed amongst them ; which, to be made the most of, must 

 be carefully attended to, and differently treated. I do not pretend to 

 have succeeded in it myself ; yet you will perceive, perhaps, that I have 

 given it some attention. 



I begin to hunt with my young hounds in August. The employment 

 of my huntsman the preceding months is to keep his old hounds healthy 

 and quiet, by giving them proper exercise ; and to get his young hounds 

 forward. 3 They are called over often in the kennel : it uses them to their 



1 Methodical arrangement. 



2 My hounds are frequently walked about the courts of the kennel, the whipper-in follow- 

 ing them, and rating them after the huntsman : this and the sending them out (after they have 

 been fed) with the people on foot, contribute greatly to make them handy. 



3 Nothing will answer this purpose so well as taking them out often. Let your huntsman 

 lounge about with them : nothing will make them so handy. Let him get off his horse fre- 

 quently, and encourage them to come to him : nothing will familiarize them so much : too 

 great restraint will oftentimes incline hounds to be riotous. 



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