SLACKNESS IN THE HOUNDS 129 



and not over-hurried, he will always hunt enough ; whilst the highest-bred 

 hounds may be made to tie upon the scent, by improper management. 1 



It is youth, and good spirits, which suit best with fox-hunting : slack- 

 ness in the men occasions slackness in the hounds ; and one may see, by 

 the manner in which hounds hunt, what kind of men they have been accus- 

 tomed to. The speediest hounds may, by degrees, be rendered slow ; and 

 it is impossible for the best to do their business as they ought, unless followed 

 with life and spirit. Men who are slack themselves, will be always afraid 

 of hurrying their hounds too much ; and, by carrying this humour too far, 

 will commit a fault which has nothing to excuse it. The best method to 

 hunt a fox, they say, is never, upon any account, to cast the hounds ; but, 

 on the contrary, to let them tie upon the scent as long as they will, and 

 that they will hit it off at last. I agree with them partly : it certainly must 

 be the best method to hunt a fox ; for, by this means, you may hunt him 

 from morning till night ; and, if you have the luck to find him, may hunt 

 him again the next day : the likeliest method, however, to kill him, is to 

 take every advantage of him that you can. 



All hounds go fast enough with a good scent ; but it is the particular 

 excellence of a fox-hound, when rightly managed, to get on faster with an 

 indifferent scent than any other hound : 2 it is the business of a huntsman 

 to encourage this ; and here, most probably, the hare-hunter will jail. He 

 has been used to take his time ; he has enjoyed a cold scent, like a southern 

 hound ; and has sitten patiently upon his horse, to see his hounds hunt. 

 It is, to be sure, very pretty to see ; and, when you consider that the hare 

 is all the time, perhaps, within a few yards of you, and may leap up the 

 next minute, you are perfectly contented with what you are about : but it 

 is not so in fox-hunting : every minute that you lose is precious, and in- 

 creases your difficulties ; and while you are standing still, the fox is running 

 miles. It is a satisfaction to a hare-hunter to be told where his game was 

 seen, though a long while before ; but it is melancholy news to a fox-hunter, 

 whose game is not likely to stop. I believe I mentioned to you, in a former 

 Letter on hare-hunting, a great fault which I had observed in some har- 

 riers, from being let alone too much that of running back the heel. I have 

 seen a pack of high-bred fox-hounds do the same, for the same reasons. 



When hounds flag, from frequent changes, and a long day, it is neces- 

 sary for a huntsman to animate them as much as he can : he must keep 

 them forward, and press them on ; for it is not likely, in this case, that they 

 should over-run the scent. At these times the whole work is generally 

 done by a few hounds, and he should keep close to them. Here I also fear 



1 It more frequently is owing either to want of patience, or want of mettle, than to want 

 of nose, that a hound does not hunt well. 



2 It is a quick method of hunting, that I mostly value in any hound : sucli as are pos- 

 sessed of it, are seldom long off the scent : it is the reverse of slackness. 



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