X THE LIFE OF A FOX 



result of experience of good aud bad scenting days, etc. ; so, in my 

 opinion, he also is on scent. Hypotheses are inseparable from so un- 

 fathomable a subject as that of scent ; but to use the language of the 

 fox-hunter, rather than the philosopher, the closer they hold on to the 

 line, the better and more satisfactory they are. 



Mr. Smith's chapter on hounds is the best in his book. It abounds 

 in sensible, well-considered observations, which may be useful to the 

 rising generation should fox-hunting last their time, of which at 

 present there must be doubts in all reflecting minds. At all events, it 

 is about to receive a "severe blow and great discouragement" in the 

 combined eifects of railroads, stag-hunting, and that abominably cruel 

 and cocktail practice of steeple-chasing. I am glad to find Mr. Smith's 

 opinion of the size of hounds for all countries agrees with that long 

 since made known by me, which is in favour of those of large size, 

 especially for severe countries. . . . Twenty -four inches for dog 

 hounds against any other standard, say I. . . . The chapter by Mr. 

 Smith on earth-stopping treats of a manner of performing this most 

 essential operation, not generally known, and still less generally 

 practised. If not carried on too far in the season, it has much to 

 recommend it in theory ; and as I am all for results in matters of 

 this nature, the experience of its good effects by Mr. Smith, in the 

 Craven country particularly, at once proves its usefulness in practice. 

 Open earths are the great curse of fox-hunting, and in no country in 

 which I have ever hunted has the evil been effectually done away with 

 by merely trusting to occasional earth-stopping. Should Mr. Smith's 

 plan of stopping at once for the season, or at least up to a certain period 

 in it, not prove injurious to the breeding of foxes, it ought to become 

 gener.il. 



I have printed Nimrod's criticism on the Diary of a 

 Huntsman nearly in coctcnso, because it seemed more interest- 

 ing to hsten to the observations of a contemporary MTiter, 

 especially to those of the famous Pomponius Ego, rather than 

 to any retrospective remarks which might have occuiTed to 

 myself. In fact, in some respects, Nimrod's reflections are 

 nearly as instructive as the original work, read in the light of 

 what has happened since his day. Fox-hunting has survived 

 the fate which he suspected Avas to be brought upon it by 

 railroads, stag-hunting, and steeple-chasing, all of which we 

 have grown accustomed to look upon rather as allies of the 

 Noble Science than as enemies ; but Ave turn in vain to his 



