204 SUPERIOllITY OF HUNTING. 



any regret attending it. I know not what 

 effect it might have on you; but I know that 

 my spirits are always good after good sport iti 

 hunting ; nor is the rest of the day ever dis- 

 agreeable to me afterwards. What are other 

 sports compared with this, which is full of 

 enthusiasm ! Fishing is, in my opinion, a dull 

 diversion ; shooting, though it admits of a com- 

 panion, does not allow of many : both, therefore, 

 may be considered as selfish and solitary amuse- 

 ments compared with hunting ; to which as 

 many as please are welcome. The one might 

 teach patience to a philosopher ; and the other, 

 though it occasions great fatigue to the body, 

 seldom affords much occupation to the mind. 

 Whereas fox-hunting is a kind of warfare ; its 

 uncertainties, its fatigues, its difficulties, and 

 its dangers, rendering it interesting above all 

 other diversions. That you may more readily 

 pardon this digression, I return to answer your 

 letter now before me. 



1 am glad to hear that your men have good 

 voices ; mine, unluckily, have not. I have a 

 friend, who hunts his own hounds, who has the 

 strangest voice, and the oddest halloo, I ever 

 heard. He has, however, this advantage : no 

 dog can possibly mistake his halloo for another. 



