462 HUNTING. 



some of them having kept sixteen hundred dogs, 

 and a proportionable number of horses, for the 

 chase.* But we may go still farther back, to a 

 very barbarous age, for the respect in which hunts- 

 men have been held by kings and legislators. 

 The temperate but brave Agesilaus, and even 

 the luxury-destroying Lycurgus, provided for the 

 bountiful entertainment of their huntsmen on their 

 return from the chase ; a pursuit which they be- 

 lieved to be so agreeable to the gods, that they 

 offered the first fruits of their sports to Diana. 



The Duties of a Huntsman. — The situation of 

 huntsman to a pack of fox-hounds is one of great 

 responsibility, and, if the breeding as well as hunt- 

 ing of them be left to him, a very arduous under- 

 taking. Nor does it end here. There is great call 

 for judgment in feeding hounds to answer every 

 purpose, such as long draws, severe days, and at 

 the same time to go the pace without showing dis- 

 tress, and to come home at night with their sterns 

 up, and looking fresh. Here variety of constitu- 

 tion increases the difiiculty ; for, to please the eye, 

 hounds should look level in their condition, as well 

 as even in point of size. One hound will not bear 

 to have his belly more than half filled ; another 

 will not fill his when he may ; and still each must 

 be made equal in strength and wind to the other, 

 to stand hard work and go the pace without dis- 

 tress. A huntsman must have a very watchful 

 eye over the condition of his pack, which will be 

 effected by work and weather ; and he must be 



* See Proissart, torn, iv., c. 27. 



