SCIENCE OF rOXHUXTlNG. 117 



CHAPTER XV. 



Paults in foxliounds — Hard work and no play makes Jack a dull 

 boy — Trial of speed in the open — Hasty drafting censured — 

 Beckford's anecdote — Packing together — The ci-y of hounds — 

 Happy medium — Touch and go — Noisy at fences — \Yill 

 Goodall's opinion of large hounds — The late Assheton Smith 

 and Freeman — The music of the pack — Gervase Markham 

 thereon. 



As '' hard work and no play makes Jack a dull 

 boy/' so must there be some relaxation given to 

 young hounds from hard woodland work, to which, 

 when sufficiently inured, a scamper over the open 

 country with a young fox will be of service, teach- 

 ing them to get away from covert, to horn and 

 holloa. Moreover, the master and huntsman will 

 have an opportunity of seeing how they can run 

 together, whether some have the speed of others, 

 and whether there will not be one or two not able 

 to run up at all. Well-shaped foxhounds are 

 rarely troubled with the sloius, and it is not to be 

 taken for granted because a young hound does not 

 at first run up with the rest, that he cannot do so. 

 This may arise from want of inclination rather than 

 from want of physical power. We should be slow 

 to draft a promising young hound for such a fliult 

 ' — if fault it can be fairly called — without giving 



