OF HARE-HUNTING. 133 



LETTER X. 



I THOUGHT I had been writing all this time 

 to a fox-hunter ; and hitherto my letters have 

 had no other object. I now receive a letter 

 from you, full of questions about hare-hunting; 

 to all of which you expect an answer. I must 

 tell you, at the same time, that though I kept 

 harriers many years, it was not my intention, if 

 you had not asked it, to have written on the 

 subject. By inclination I was never a hare- 

 hunter ; I followed this diversion more for air 

 and exercise than fcJr amusement ; and if I could 

 have persuaded myself to ride on the turnpike- 

 road to the three-mile stone, and back ao-ain, I 

 should have thought I had no need of a pack of 

 harriers. Excuse me, brother hare-hunters ! I 

 mean not to offend ; I speak only of the country 

 where I live. The hare-hunting there is so bad, 

 that, did you know it, your wonder would be 

 how I could have persevered in it so long, not 

 that I should forsake it now. I respect hunting, 

 in whatever shape it appears : it is a manly 



