66 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



they have infinitely more sagacity in it than we ought to pretend to : I 

 have no doubt that they often think us very obstinate, and very foolish. 



Harriers, to be good, like all other hounds, must be kept to their own 

 game : if you run fox with them, you spoil them. Hounds cannot be per- 

 fect, unless used to one scent, and one style of hunting. Harriers run fox 

 in so different a style from hare, that it is of great disservice to them when 

 they return to hare again : it makes them wild, and teaches them to skirt. 

 The high scent which a fox leaves, the straightness of his running, the eager- 

 ness of the pursuit, and the noise that generally accompanies it, all contri- 

 bute to spoil a harrier. 



I hope you agree with me, that it is a fault in a pack of harriers to 

 go too fast ; for a hare is a little timorous animal, which we cannot help feel- 

 ing some compassion for at the very time when we are pursuing her destruc- 

 tion : we should give scope to all her little tricks, nor kill her foully, and 

 over-matched. 1 ! Instinct instructs her to make a good defence, when not 

 unfairly treated ; and I will venture to say, that, as far as her own safety 

 is concerned, she has more cunning than the fox, and makes many shifts 

 to save her life far beyond all his artifice. Without doubt, you have often 

 heard of hares, who, from the miraculous escapes they have made, have 

 been thought witches ; but, I believe, you never heard of a fox that 

 had cunning enough to be thought a wizzard. 



They who like to rise early, have amusement in seeing the hare trailed 

 to her form. It is of great service to hounds : it also shows their goodness 

 to the huntsman more than any other hunting, as it discovers to him those 

 who have the most tender noses. But I confess I seldom judged it worth 

 while to leave my bed a moment sooner on that account. I always thought 

 hare-hunting should be taken as a ride, after breakfast, to get us an appetite 

 to our dinner. If you make a serious business of it, you spoil it. Hare- 

 finders, in this case, are necessary : it is agreeable to know where to go 

 immediately for your diversion, and not beat about, for hours perhaps, 

 before you find. It is more material with regard to the second hare than 

 the first ; for if you are warmed with your gallop, the waiting long in the cold 

 afterwards is, I believe, as unwholesome as it is disagreeable. Whoever 

 does not mind this, had better let his hounds find their own game : they will 

 certainly hunt it with more spirit afterwards ; and he will have a pleasure 

 himself in expectation, which no certainty can ever give. Hare-finders make 

 hounds idle : they also make them wild. Mine knew the men as well as I 

 did myself ; could see them almost as far ; and would run, full cry, to meet 



1 The critic terms this, ' a mode of destruction somewhat beyond brutal ' (vide Monthly 

 Review). I shall not pretend to justify that conventional cruelty, which seems so universally 

 to prevail neither will I ask the gentleman, who is so severe on me, why he feeds the lamb, 

 and afterwards cuts his throat ; I mean only to consider cruelty under the narrow limits which 

 concern hunting if it may be defined to be, a pleasure which results from giving pain ; then, 

 certainly, a sportsman is much less cruel than he is thought. 



