THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 151 



or doing your best to stop, a single hound, or even two 

 couples, whioh'may get a start too far in advance of the 

 body. The pack will never relish a scent while there is 

 anything between them and their fox upon the line, 

 which is the reason for the irreparable mischief caused 

 by sheep dogs, greyhounds, or any stray cur that may 

 have coursed a fox during a run, causing a sudden vari- 

 ation of scent, w]iich is often irrecoverable. As there 

 are exceptions to every general rule, so are these cases 

 instances of distinction from the general and ruling 

 principle of non-intervention, on the part of the field. 

 All are equally ready to admit, that "too many cooks 

 must spoil the broth ;" but I am all for encouraging, on 

 the part of those who wish thoroughly to participate in 

 the sport, a desire to know what hounds are about, to 

 learn, as there is, or should be, a reason for doing every- 

 thing, the reason why everything is done. 



A quick find is essential to the spirit of the day, and, 

 although it will not add to the steadiness of hounds to 

 clap them at once upon a fox, without giving them the 

 trouble of drawing for him, it is very desirable to find 

 early, before hounds get so disgusted with drawing 

 through a line of coverts, without a touch of the right 

 scent, that loss of patience inclines them to the wrong, 

 and they get into a humour to run anything. In Herts, 

 and other countries where game preserves are neither 

 few nor far between, and where there are often more 

 hares than hounds in a spinney, the wonder is, not that 

 any hounds should occasionally riot, but that any code 



