THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 151 



by this circumstance alone, towards the end of last year, 

 with a celebrated pack. With the idea of forcing a fox 

 into a particular line of country, the hounds were thrown 

 up wind, into a spinney : a certain find. By dint of 

 noise, the fox was unkennelled without accident ; and, 

 finding it impossible to face the pack and field in his 

 rear, was compelled to make a feint forward, in the eye 

 of an equinoctial gale ; but, after half a mile of this 

 fun, he, of course, took the first opportunity of making 

 a retrograde movement, leading a gallant chase for miles 

 down wind. The impulse of a pack, however, when 

 enjoying a burst up wind, close to their fox, is that of 

 "Vestigia nulla retrorsum." On this occasion, they 

 never recovered the first check ; and, although they had 

 a good run, the fox found security in the distant wood- 

 land of the adjoining country, and the day was wanting 

 that satisfactory account of him, which must have been 

 the result, had a contrary course been pursued in 

 drawing. In this, as in many other things, " Ce, n'est 

 que le premier pas qui couieJ' 



We are all, of course, anxious enough to get away 

 on the best possible terms with a fox : and it is only fair 

 towards hounds to get them away close at his brush ; 

 but I doubt whether this is the best way to ensure a good 



to change the predetermined line of a fox, but easy enough to force him 

 to break at a different point to that which he would spontaneously have 

 chosen. 



