KNOWLEDGE OF COUNTRY ESSENTIAL 131 



flesh ; their meat should be mixed up rather thin than thick ; and they 

 should have vegetables in great plenty. 1 I must also add, that if my hounds 

 return from hunting earlier than they were expected, I now order them to 

 be shut up in the lodging-room till their meat be made ready for them. 

 Hounds never rest contented till they have been fed ; nor will they remain 

 upon their benches, unless they be confined : yet, without doubt, lying 

 upon the pavement, or even standing out in the cold after violent exercise, 

 must be prejudicial to them. 



I am glad to hear that your huntsman knows the country which he is 

 to hunt : nothing in fox-hunting is more essential than that ; and it may 

 make amends for many faults. Foxes are not capricious : they know very 

 well what they are about ; are quick, I believe, at determining, and resolute 

 in persevering : they generally have a point to go to ; and, though headed 

 and turned directly from it, seldom fail to make it good at the last : this, 

 therefore, is a great help to an observing huntsman. 



Suffer not your huntsman to encourage his hounds too much on a bad- 

 scenting day, particularly in covers where there is much riot. Hark ! hark ! 

 hark ! which injudicious huntsmen are so fond of upon every occasion, must 

 often do mischief, and cannot do good : while hounds are near together, 

 they will get sooner to the hound that challenges without that noise than 

 with it. If it be a right scent, they will be ready enough to join ; and if it 

 be a wrong one, provided they be let alone, they will soon leave it : injudi- 

 cious encouragement, on a bad day, might make them run something or 

 other, right or wrong. 



I know of no fault so bad in a hound as that of running false : it should 

 never be forgiven. Such as are not stout, or are stiff-nosed, or have other 

 faults, may at times do good, and, at their worst, may do no harm ; but 

 such as run false, most probably, will spoil your sport. A hound capable 

 of spoiling one day's sport, is scarcely worth your keeping : indifferent 

 ones, such as I have above described, may be kept till you have better to 

 supply then 1 places. 



A huntsman should know how to marshal every hound in his pack, 

 giving to each his proper rank and precedence ; for, without this knowledge, 

 it is not possible that he should make a large draft, as he ought. There 

 are, in most packs, some hounds that assist but little in killing a fox ; and 

 it is the judicious drafting off of such hounds that is a certain sign of a good 

 huntsman. 



My huntsman is very exact : he always carries a list of his hounds in 

 his pocket, and when in a distant country, he looks it over, to see if any of 

 them be missing ; he has also a book in which he keeps a regular account 

 where every fox is found, and where he is killed. 



1 Sulphur made into a ball with butter, or hog's-lard, and given two or three mornings 

 following, may also be necessary. 



