18 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



these mysteries. It is not my purpose to make any 

 compilation of practical details upon the treatment of 

 hounds, nor even to retail any of the thousand and one 

 infalHble specifics for the cure of distemper, and other 

 diseases, all of which would be borrowed from, or be 

 more or less infringing upon the province of, works 

 already, for the most part, familiar to sportsmen. It is 

 true that I could swell a volume, by recapitulating the 

 daily results of conferences with those possessing suffi- 

 cient practical lore upon these matters, were such my 

 object; nay, this might, perhaps, constitute the only valu- 

 able product of my penmanship, but I question whether 

 I should thus add to the stock of useful maxims which I 

 desire to inculcate, or further my design of offering a 

 cursory view of the general and grand ruling principles 

 of fox-hunting, which it will be my endeavour to make 

 comprehensible and acceptable to those friends for 

 whose amusement or edification alone these pages are 

 intended. I must repeat, that I am drawing solely upon 

 my knowledge and memory for facts, and should, per- 

 haps, state that I am not only unaided and alone, but 

 actually and literally writing, daily, in a room unfurnished 

 with one printed article of any description, and wholly 

 devoid of all access to books from which I might cull 

 rich matter for my own.* With regard to hounds, let us 



* More than half the book was written in leisure hom-s during a summer 

 tour, and a considerable portion on board Mr. Ackers's fine schooner yacht, the 

 Dolphin. 



