176 A FAIR SPORTSMAN. 



it is an early one.* You say, I do not go out 

 so early myself. It is true that I do not: do 

 physicians always follow their own prescrip- 

 tions.? Is it not sufficient that their prescrip- 

 tions be good .? However, if my hounds are 

 out of blood, I go out early, for then it becomes 

 necessary to give them every advantage. At an 

 early hour you are seldom long before you find. 

 The morning is the time of the day which gene- 

 rally affords the best scent, and the animal him- 

 self, wliich in such a case you are more than 

 ever desirous of killing, is then least able to 

 run away from you. The want of rest, and 

 perhaps a full belly, give hounds a great advan- 

 tage over him. I expect, my friend, that you 

 will reply to this, " a fox-hunter, then, is not a 

 fair sportsman^ He certainly is not ; and, 

 what is more, would be very sorry to be mis^ 

 taken for one. He is otherwise from principle. 

 In his opinion, a fair sportsman and a foolish 

 sportsman are synonymous ; he therefore takes 

 every advantage of the fox he can. You will 

 ask, perhaps, if he does not sometimes spoil his 

 own sport by this.? It is true he sometimes 

 does, but then he makes his hounds ; the whole 



* An early hour is only necessary where you are not 

 likely to find without a drug. 



