100 



OBEDIENCE IN A HOUND. 



there is a great objection to hunting at that 

 time: animals are more easily disturbed, and 

 you have a greater variety of scents than at an 

 earlier hour. 



Having given you all the information I can 

 possibly recollect with regard to my own ma- 

 nagement of young hounds, I shall now take 

 notice of that part of your last letter, where I 

 am sorry to find that our opinions differ. Obe- 

 dience, you say, is every thing necessary in a 

 hound, and it is of little consequence by what 

 means it is obtained. I cannot concur altoge- 

 ther in" that opinion ; for I think it very neces- 

 sary that the hound should at the same time 

 understand you. Obedience, under proper ma- 

 nagement, will be a necessary consequence of it. 

 Obedience, surely, is not all that is required of 

 them : they should be taught to distinguish of 

 themselves right from wrong, or I know not 

 how they are to be managed when, as it fre- 

 quently happens, we cannot see what they are 

 at, and must take their words for it. A hound 

 that hears a voice which has often rated him, 

 and that hears the whip he has often felt, T 

 know, will stop. I also know he will commit 

 the same fault again, if he has been accustomed 

 to be guilty of it. 



