LETTER IX. 



Having now settled what the qualifications of huntsmen 

 and whippers-in should be, I shall proceed to treat of 

 the qualifications of the hound — the hour of feeding, 

 number of hounds requisite to form the hunting pack, 

 and other details. The general hour for feeding in most 

 establishments is about eleven o'clock — the prevailing 

 opinion being that hounds should be sharp set (as the 

 term is) before hunting. They have thus four-and-twenty 

 hours before they commence work, and often to wait for 

 nearly thirty until fed again; for, supposing they kill 

 only one fox in the day, what is that among twenty 

 couples of hounds, the usual complement in the field ? 

 Hardly a taste for each. 



From long experience and observation I am satisfied 

 that foxhounds, if treated diflferently, would last much 

 longer than they usually do under this half starving 

 system of the present day, and not so often be beaten by 

 their afternoon fox. The time of feeding should, in my 

 opinion, depend upon the distance hounds have to travel 

 before hunting, and the hour at which they generally 

 commence drawing. There is also another consideration, 

 whether they are carried to the place of meeting in a 

 van, or have to travel on foot. 



The hour of meeting in the present day is generally 



