LETTER XXX. 335 



It is the custom in some kennels to plunge the hounds 

 into a warm bath after hunting, and to shut them up 

 together when washed for a short time before they are 

 fed. There are few who do not admit the efficacy of 

 hot water, or who have not experienced the soothing 

 effects of a warm bath after severe labour. To the hu- 

 man frame, with a good dry rubbing afterwards, nothing 

 can be more refreshing, but without this dry rubbing we 

 all know half the efficacy would be lost. By a sudden 

 chill or cold blast the pores of the skin, thus opened by 

 the application of the warm water, would be suddenly 

 checked, and more harm than good would be the result 

 of it ; rubbing keeps up the action of the skin, and su- 

 perinduces that glow over the whole frame which is so 

 luxurious. Having tried the experiment with my own 

 hounds for one entire season without any satisfactory 

 result, I abandoned it. The warm bath is all very well, 

 but the difficulty lies in having the hounds rubbed tho- 

 roughly dry afterwards, which requires much more labour 

 and time than many suppose. 



To have the thing done thoroughly well, I attended 

 the operation myself, with three assistants, but it occupied 

 more than an hour to bathe and rub tolerably dry about 

 eighteen couples of hounds, and then they were not in my 

 opinion half dry. It is true, they assisted each other in 

 this respect, but I never could see yet any good result 

 from one hound licking off the dirt and hair from another's 

 coat. It was, however, one of the fashions of that day, 

 and, not to be considered out of the fashion, I gave it a 

 fair trial ; but one season satisfied me that it could not 

 be adopted as a general practice, without more injury 

 than benefit to the hounds. Where there is a lodging- 



