THE HUNTEK. 593 



others for the sports of the field, possessing strength, hardi- 

 hood, and speed, sufficient to call forth the utmost powers of 

 the pack. With the increasing improvement of the country, 

 too, and the diminution of the larger forests, the haunts of 

 the animals became more known, so that they could be rea- 

 dily found, while the multiplication of artificial coverts of 

 gorse and brushwood, with the increase of the smaller game 

 which served them as food, afforded the means of increasing 

 their numbers in almost any degree required. 



This new kind of sport continued to be received with in- 

 creasing favour during all the reign of George III., and by 

 degrees underwent great changes. The breed of dogs was 

 rendered more compact and symmetrical in their form, and 

 consequently more agile and fleet; and a lighter kind of 

 horses was employed. The general practice of the Hunting- 

 field, too, was insensibly changed. Under the older system, 

 the hounds were taken out by break of day, and the fox, 

 after having returned from pursuing his prey during the 

 night, was tracked to his cover by the scent of his returning 

 footsteps, or, in technical language, " the drag ;" so that 

 there were in truth two chases, the one the tracking of the 

 animal to his cover, and the other after he was " unkennel- 

 led," corresponding with the modern fox-chase. The hounds 

 are now at once taken to the cover, and, in place of the tem- 

 perate riding of former times, the sportsmen press more 

 closely on the pack, which may justify the modern phraseo- 

 logy of riding to hounds, in place of the former more correct 

 expression of riding after or following them. The chase has 

 now become a short and fiery gallop, and few horsemen, out 

 of a numerous field, can keep pace with the pack when at 

 speed. It has now become common to have relays of horses, 

 so that the sportsman may mount a fresh Hunter when his 

 first one is exhausted. In every part of England are to be 

 seen packs, brought to the utmost perfection with respect to 

 equipment, and the breeding and discipline of the hounds ; 

 but Leicestershire has acquired a sort of pre-eminence, from 



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