40 CLEANLINESS ENJOINED. 



servants in the stable, in that case, the business 

 of the feeder may be confined entirely to the 

 kennel. There should be always two to feed 

 hounds properly, the feeder and the huntsman. 



Somervile strongly recommends cleanliness in 

 the following lines : — 



" O'er all let cleanliness preside, no scraps 

 Bestrew the pavement, and no half-pick'd bones, 

 To kindle fierce debate, or to disgust 

 That nicer sense, on which the sportsman's hope, 

 And all his future triumphs, must depend. 

 Soon as the prowling pack with eager joy 

 Have lapp'd their smoking viands, morn or eve, 

 From the full cistern lead the ductile streams 

 To wash thy court well- paved, nor spare thy pains, 

 For much to health will cleanliness avail. 

 Seek'st thou for hounds to climb the rocky steep, 

 And brush th' entangled covert, whose nice scent 

 O'er greasy fiillows and frequented roads 

 Can pick the dubious way ? Banish far off 

 Each noisome stench ; let no offensive smell 

 Invade thy wide inclosure ; but admit 

 The nitrous air and purifying breeze." 



Somervile is so perfectly right in this, that if 

 you can make your kennel a visit every day, 

 vour hounds will be the better for it : when I 

 have been long absent from mine, I have always 

 perceived a difference in their looks. I shall 

 now take notice of that part of the management 

 of hounds in the kennel which concerns the hunts- 



