13 



that if they lived to be a hundred 

 they would learn something every 

 year. All three agreed in this, 

 that it was ruinous to a pack of 

 hdunds to meddle with them be- 

 fore they had done trying for 

 themselves. The reasoning upon 

 this most material point is very 

 simple. If the hounds are habitu- 

 ally checked, and meddled with 

 in their natural casts, they will 

 learn to stand still at every diiB- 

 culty, and wait for their hunts- 

 man ; every greasy wheat-field will 

 bring them to a dead stop^ and 

 however hard the huntsman may 

 ride on their back, two or three 

 minutes must be lost before he 

 can help them out of their diffi- 

 culty, whilst in woods he cannot 

 ever know what they are about. 

 (For once the huntsman can help 

 them, nineteen times the hounds 

 must help themselves.) It was 

 Old Musters' remark, that for the 



