BARBAROUS USE OF DISCIPLINE 103 



selves, are rare judges of propriety. I wish they would never strike a 

 hound that does not deserve it, and would strike those hard that do. They 

 seldom distinguish sufficiently the degrees of offence which a dog may have 

 committed, to proportion their punishment accordingly ; and such is their 

 stupidity, that, when they turn a hound after the huntsman, they will rate 

 him as severely as if he had been guilty of the greatest fault. 



It is seldom necessary to flog hounds to make them obedient, since 

 obedience is the first lesson that they are taught ; yet, if any should be 

 more riotous than the rest, they may receive a few cuts in the morning, 

 before they leave the kennel. 



When hounds prove unsteady, every possible means should be taken 

 to make them otherwise : a hare, or a deer, put into the kennel amongst 

 them, may then be necessary. Huntsmen are too fond of kennel-discipline : 

 you already know my opinion of it : I never allow it but in cases of great 

 necessity : I then am always present myself, to prevent excess. To pre- 

 vent an improper and barbarous use of such discipline, I have already told 

 you, is one of the chief objects of these Letters. If what Montaigne says 

 be true, ' that there is a certain general claim of kindness and benevolence 

 which every creature has a right to from us,' surely we ought not to suffer 

 unnecessary severity towards an animal to whom we are obliged for so much 

 diversion : and what opinion must we have of the huntsman who inflicts 

 it on one to whom he owes his daily bread ? 1 



If any of my hounds be very riotous, they are taken out by themselves 

 on the days when they do not hunt, and properly punished ; and this is 

 continued whilst my patience lasts, which, of course, depends on the value 

 of the dog. It is a trial between the whipper-in and the dog, which will tire 

 first ; and the whipper-in, I think, generally prevails. If this method will 

 not make them steady, no other can ; they then are looked upon as incorrigi- 

 ble, and are put away. 



Such hounds as are notorious offenders, should also feel the lash, and hear 

 a rate, as they go to the cover ; it may be a useful hint to them, and may 

 prevent a severer flogging afterwards. A sensible whipper-in will wait 

 his opportunity to single out his hound ; he will then hit him hard, and rate 

 him well ; whilst a foolish one will often hit a dog that he did not intend to 

 strike ; will ride full gallop into the midst of the hounds ; will, perhaps, 



' Perhaps it is not the least extraordinary circumstance in these flogging lectures, that 

 they should be given, with Montaigne, or any other moral author whatever, in recollection 

 at the same instant ! ' (vide Monthly Review). Perhaps it is not the least extraordinary cir- 

 cumstance in these criticisms, that this passage should have been quoted as a proof of the 

 author's inhumanity. The critic ends his strictures with the following exclamation : ' Of a 

 truth, a sportsman is the most uniform consistent character, from his own representation, that 

 we ever contemplated ! ' and yet, perhaps, there are sportsmen to be found, possessed of as 

 tender feelings of humanity as any critic whatsoever. The motto prefixed to these Letters, 

 if it had been attended to, might have entitled the author to more candour than the critic 

 lias thought fit to bestow upon him. 



