LETTER XVII 



FOX-HUNTING, an acquaintance of mine says, is only to be followed 

 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 ac- 

 quainted with the hounds, and can at times assist them, find the sport more 

 interesting, and frequently have the satisfaction to think, that they them- 

 selves contribute to the success of the day. 1 This is a pleasure that you 

 often enjoy ; a pleasure without any regret attending it. I know not what 

 effect it may have on you ; but I know that my spirits are always good after 

 good sport hi hunting ; nor is the rest of the day ever disagreeable to me. 

 What are other sports, compared with this, which is full of enthusiasm ! 

 Pishing is, in my opinion, a dull diversion ; shooting, though it admit of a 

 companion, will not allow of many : both, therefore, may be considered as 

 selfish and solitary amusements, compared with hunting ; to which as 

 many as please are welcome : the one might teach patience to a philoso- 

 pher ; and the other, though it occasion great fatigue to the body, seldom 

 affords much occupation to the mind ; whereas fox-hunting is a kind of war- 

 fare ; its uncertainties, its fatigues, its difficulties, and its dangers, render- 

 ing it interesting above aU other diversions. That you may more readily 

 pardon this digression, I return to answer your letter now before me. 



I am glad to hear that your men have good voices ; mine, unluckily, 

 have not. There is a friend of mine who hunts his own hounds : his voice 

 is the strangest, and his halloos the oddest, I ever heard. He has, however, 

 this advantage no dog can possibly mistake his halloo for another's. 

 Singularity constitutes an essential part of a huntsman's halloo : it is for 

 that reason alone, I prefer the horn, to which, I observe, hounds fly more 

 readily than to the huntsman's voice. Good voices certainly are pleasing ; 

 yet it might be as well, perhaps, if those who have them were less fond of 

 exerting them. When a fox is halloo'd, those who understand this business 



1 It is not by a foolish attempt to hunt the hounds that gentlemen can be of service. 

 It is not by riding close upon them, but by keeping wide of them ; when by so doing they may 

 hear a halloo, or view the fox. 



N 



