^eckford 



tous cruelty, this really great sportsman actually says that 

 if any Hounds ' should be more riotous than the rest, they 

 may receive a few cuts in the morning before they leave 

 the kennel.' It is almost incredible. 



It is true that Beckford, like others of his age, was 

 obsessed with the idea of riot, which does not for some 

 reason seem to trouble us so much in these days ; but that 

 a beautiful creature like a Foxhound, or indeed any dumb 

 animal, should be made to suffer pain for no reason or 

 fault is positively revolting, to say nothing of its being 

 quite useless. Yet Beckford returns to the charge on the 

 very next page : ' Such hounds as are notorious offenders 

 should also feel the lash and hear a rate as they go to the 

 covert ; it may be a useful hint to them, and may prevent 

 a severer flogging afterwards.' Fancy a modern hunts- 

 man arriving at the meet with some of the Hounds half 

 cowed, and their beautiful coats marked with the thong 

 as a prophylactic against hunting hares during the day ! 

 We know of at least one establishment where he would not 

 do it more than once. But as a matter of fact, no modern 

 huntsman could be found who would countenance such 

 a brutal and a senseless thing. To-day we are wiser and 

 more merciful. 



Now for something more pleasant. Beckford is parti- 

 cularly happy in everything he says about hunting the Fox. 

 His remarks about what to do, or rather what not to do, 

 when Hounds are at fault are curiously like those of Lord 

 Henry Bentinck in ' GoodalVs Practice,' and are in harmony 



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