ANECDOTE. 177 



art of fox-hunting being to keep the hounds 

 well in blood. Sport is but a secondary consi- 

 deration with a true fox-hunter. The first is, 

 the killing of the fox : hence arises the eager- 

 ness of pursuit, and the chief pleasure of the 

 chase. I confess, I esteem blood so necessary 

 to a pack of fox-hounds, that, with regard to 

 myself, I always return home better pleased 

 with an indifferent chase, with death at the end 

 of it, than with the best chase possible, if it 

 ends with the loss of the fox. Good chases, 

 generally speaking, are long chases ; and, if not 

 attended with success, never fail to do more 

 harm to hounds than good. Our pleasures, I 

 believe, for the most part, are greater during 

 the expectation than the enjoyment. In this 

 case, reality itself warrants the idea, and your 

 present success is almost a sure forerunner of 

 future sport. 



I remember to have heard an odd anecdote 

 of the late Duke of R , who was very po- 

 pular in his neighbourhood. A butcher, at 

 Lyndhurst, a lover of the sport, as often as he 

 heard the hounds return from hunting, came 

 out to meet them, and never failed to ask the 

 Duke what sport he had ? " Very good, I 

 thank you, honest friend." — " Has your Grace 

 I 3 



