LETTER I. 



" Qui studit optatam cursu contingere metam 

 Multa tulit, fecitque, puer, sudavit et alsit, 

 Abstinuit venere et vino." — Horace. 



The observations I am about to make in the following 

 letters are not intended to provoke the criticism of those 

 vs^ho, whether as masters of hounds or huntsmen, may 

 possess equal, if not superior knowledge to myself in all 

 that relates to the management of horses and hounds. 

 I neither invite nor deprecate their censure ; my object 

 is to instruct the uninitiated in the mysteries of the ars 

 venatica, and defend the often abused noble animals 

 which contribute so largely to our health and amuse- 

 ment, and whose services are often ill requited — the 

 horse and the hound. 



In these times of necessary retrenchment, as pressing 

 particularly upon gentlemen of landed property, it will 

 be my endeavour to point out how a fox hunting estab- 

 lishment may be conducted, with a strict view to economy 

 in every department, consistent with respectability and 

 efficiency. Many ardent lovers of the sport are deterred 

 from taking the management of hounds in their own 

 country, by the generally received opinion of the enor- 

 mous expenses attendant on such an establishment — and 

 enormous in many instances they certainly are. These, 

 however, arise chiefly from the ignorance or inattention 



B 



