228 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



Noble Science/' and to the practical utility of any infor- 

 mation upon the subject, I halted in the course of 

 my own task, and scanned the Diary, in the hope of 

 finding that supply of novelty already before the public, 

 which I felt myself unable to communicate. Of a verity, 

 that novelty have I found in divers shapes ; but such 

 novelty is useless if it be past man's understanding. I 

 say this in a general sense, because I cannot impute to 

 myself a more than common share of isolated stupidity, 

 in being unable to discover the meaning of phrases, 

 which I find equally unintelligible to others. 



It is not my intention to make allusion to any discre- 

 pancies unconnected with the immediate subject of my 

 own consideration ; but having had occasion to differ, 

 most materially, from the Diary upon the nature of 

 scent, which forms the burden of this chapter, I cannot 

 conclude the disquisition without reference to one of 

 those novelties which I have pronounced to be utterly 

 beyond comprehension. 



The fifth chapter of this Diary of a Huntsman, 

 professes to be a Glossary of " Hunting Terms ;" the 

 preceding chapter having offered an explanation of 

 " Huntsman's Language." Casting my eye over these 

 valuable elucidations, being attracted to the article of 

 " Moving Scent" (page 125), I was struck by the appear- 

 ance of a word, which, as pertaining to the vocabulary 

 of a sportsman, or being applicable to hounds, " showed 

 strangely to my sight." — " Aletal" — ''When hounds are 

 veiy fresh, and fly for a short distance on a wrong scent, 



