THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 211 



take an J tiling for granted, when we know that scent 

 may vary with the fleeting moments— that it changes 

 with the soil, and that no one can speak positively to 

 the point till a fox is found, and hounds have had a fair 

 chance of settling to a scent, if it exist. It is to be 

 remarked, that when hounds go soberly to covert, with 

 their mouths fast closed, instead of staring about them, 

 and showing disposition to frolic — when, in the place of 

 boisterous winds and lowering storms, w^e have high 

 clouds with cool and gentle zephers — when no white 

 frost has rendered the surface of the earth treacherous 

 and adhesive — above all, when the quicksilver in the 

 barometer is on the ascendant, we may fairly hope for 

 scent ; but we must not be too confident — not unduly 

 elated by such auspices, or dejected by the reverse. The 

 sine qua non of scent must be considered, more or Jess, 

 a matter of chance ; but it may not be uninteresting to 

 consider how, and in what manner, it is yielded by the 

 fox in chase. I have been led into a notice of this sub- 

 ject by the propagation of such an idea, as that the 

 scent is derived, not from the body or breath, but from 

 the pad alone. Mr Smith has industriously endeavoured 

 to prove such assertion by the very means which, in my 

 humble opinion, afford the strongest confirmation of 

 the contrary. There is, perhaps, no greater mistake 

 throughout the whole "Diary of a Huntsman." In 

 expressing my most unqualified rejection of such hypo- 

 thesis, it will be necessary to follow closely the line of 

 argument adduced in its support. Mr. Smith com- 



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