54) ON THE BREEDING 



LETTER V. 



We are now about to treat of the breeding of 

 hounds ; and it is the sagacious management of 

 this business on which all our future success de- 

 pends. Is it not extraordinary, that no other 

 country should equal us in this particular ? and 

 that the very hounds procured from hence should 

 degenerate in a foreign country ? 



" In thee alone, fair land of liberty ! 

 Is bred the perfect hound, in scent and speed 

 As yet unrivall'd, while in other climes 

 Their virtue fails, a weak degenerate race." 



SOMERVILE. 



Happy climate for sportsmen ! where nature 

 seems as it were to give the man exclusive pri- 

 vilege of enjoying this diversion. To preserve, 

 however, this advantage, great care should be 

 taken in the breed ; I shall therefore, according 

 to your desire, send you such rules as I observe 

 myself. — Consider the size, shape, colour, con- 

 stitution, and natural disposition of the dog you 

 breed from ; as well as the fineness of his nose. 



