NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 409 



lash, and the rate, are inseparable from discipline in the field. There are 

 points in which Lord Kelburne excels in his system of hunting hounds. 

 His method of laying them on to a scent is perfect, and in his casts 

 when at check, he appears to know exactly the time they ought to be 

 allowed to try and make it good themselves ; and this is a point of no 

 small importance, especially in a country like the one I saw him in, 

 where a fox has so many advantages over hounds. In drawing his 

 covers, his lordship appeared to me to be rather too far from his hounds, 

 which accounted for their once or twice slipping away with their fox, 

 unobserved by him; but as far as I could judge of him in chase, and I saw 

 him in some trying situations, he appeared equal to give them all the 

 assistance required. His country, like most parts of Scotland that 

 I hunted in, however, is calculated to keep every huntsman in a fidget, 

 as well as to render his hounds both slack and wild, from the quantity of 

 open drains which invite foxes to go to ground — a fact, that will not, I 

 believe, bo disputed by those who have witnessed the eHect of disappoint- 

 ment to animals so sagacious and yet so impatient as fox-hounds. 



To sum up all. I saw Lord Kelburne, as a huntsman, to disad- 

 vantage. His hounds were wild from the cause I have stated ; the 

 weather was wilder, with the exception of one day ; his whippers-in were 

 insufficient, which is proved by his having drafted them ; and 1 saw him 

 in a very difficult country. I saw enough, however, to convince me 

 that, the two principal obstacles being removed, — namely, the want of 

 discipline, and good assistance from whippers-in, — he will have his share 

 of sport; at all events, the want of it will not lie at his door. What his 

 kennel is now, it is only in my power to imagine, from the additions made 

 to it, and of course a judicious draft; but this I will repeat, that a more 

 highly bred and business-like pack, to look at, need not be in any man's 



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