88 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



know that I can enumerate one half of them ; but of this you may be 

 certain, that the keeping them together is the surest means to keep them 

 steady. When left to themselves, they seldom refuse any blood they can 

 get ; they acquire many bad habits ; they become conceited ; a terrible 

 fault in any animal ; and they learn to tie upon the scent ; an unpardon- 

 able fault in a fox-hound : besides this, they frequently get a trick of 

 hunting by themselves ; and they seldom are worth much afterwards. The 

 lying out in the cold, perhaps the whole night, can do no good to their 

 constitutions ; nor will the being worried by sheep-dogs, or mastiffs, be of 

 service to their bodies : all this, however, and much more, they are liable 

 to. I believe I mentioned in my fourth Letter, that the straw-house door 

 should be left open when any hounds are missing. 



Every country is soon known ; and nine foxes out of ten, with the 

 wind in the same quarter, will follow the same track. It is easy, therefore, 

 for the whipper-in to cut short, and catch the hounds again ; at least, it 

 is so in the country where I hunt. With a high scent, you cannot push on 

 hounds too much. Screams keep the fox forward, at the same time that 

 they keep the hounds together, or let in the tail hounds ; 1 they also 

 enliven the sport, and, if discreetly used, are always of service ; but, in 

 cover, they should be given with the greatest caution. 



Most fox-hunters wish to see their hounds run in a good style. I con- 

 fess I am myself one of those. I hate to see a string of them ; nor can I 

 bear to see them creep where they can leap. It is the dash of the fox- 

 hound which distinguishes him, as truly as the motto of William of Wick- 

 ham distinguishes us. A pack of harriers, if they have time, may kill a 

 fox ; but I defy them to kill him in the style in which a fox ought to be 

 killed : they must hunt him down. If you intend to tire him out, you 

 must expect to be tired also yourself. I never wish a chase to be less than 

 one hour, or to exceed two : it is sufficiently long, if properly followed : it 

 will seldom be longer, unless there be a fault somewhere ; either in the day, 

 in the huntsman, or in the hounds. What Lord Chatham once said of a 

 battle, is particularly applicable to a fox-chase : it should be short, sharp, 

 and decisive. 



There is, I believe, but little difference in the speed of hounds of the 

 same size : the great difference is in the head they carry ; and, in order 

 that they may run well together, you should not keep too many old hounds : 

 after five or six seasons, they generally do more harm than good. If they 

 tie upon the scent, and come hunting after, hang them up immediately, let 

 their age be what it may : there is no getting such conceited devils on ; 



1 Halloos seldom do any hurt, when you are running up the wind ; for then, none but the 

 tail hounds can hoar you : when you are running down the wind, you should halloo no more 

 than may be necessary to bring the tail hounds forward ; for a hound that knows his business 

 seldom wants encouragement when he is upon a scent. 



