66 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



tail, and their exertions to keep up to the leading 

 Hounds make them of little use, farther than enlarging 

 the cry, unless when the scent is over-ran, then Hounds 

 thrown out or tailed often come up and hit off the fault. 



" It is very common for the fleetest Hound to be the 

 greatest favourite, but let a Hound be ever so good 

 in his own nature, his excellence is obscured in that 

 pack which is too slow for him. At most times there 

 is work enough for every Hound in the field, and each 

 ought to bear a part ; but this it is impossible for the 

 heavy Hounds to do, if run out of wind by the dis- 

 proportionate speed of a leading Hound ; for it is not 

 sufficient for Hounds to run up, which a good Hound 

 will labour hard for, but they should be able to do 

 so with ease, with retention of breath and spirits, 

 and with their tongues at command ; it can never 

 be expected that any scent can be well followed by 

 Hounds that do not carry a good head. It is too frequent 

 a practice in numerous kennels to keep some for their 

 music, others for their Beauty, who at best are silly 

 and trifling, without nose or sagacity : this is wrong, 

 for it is a certain maxim that every dog which does no 

 good, serves only to foil the ground and confound 

 the scent, by scampering before or interrupting their 

 betters in the most difficult points. Five couple of 

 trusty Hounds will do more execution than thirty, 

 where half of them are eager and head-strong." 



These observations seem to me so just, and so much 

 informed with the modern spirit of hunting, that I have 

 thought them worth reproducing. Their author is 

 far less well known than Beckford, who followed him, 

 but he is, as regards hare-hunting, with which only he 

 deals, at least as well worth reading. 



" The third sort " — (the " rough, wire-haired 

 Hound ") — he continues, " are scarce, and an entire 



