ADOPTED WITH CAUTION. 225 



ther, old hounds will not prove worthy your 

 acceptance : they never can be very good ; and 

 may bring vices along with them, to spoil your 

 pack. If old hounds are unsteady, it may not 

 be in your power to make them otherwise ; and 

 I can assure you from experience, that an 

 unsteady old hound will give you more trouble 

 than all your young ones. The latter will at 

 least stop ; but an obstinate old hound will 

 frequently run mute, if he finds he can run no 

 other way : besides, old hounds, that are unac- 

 quainted with your people, will not readily 

 hunt for them as they ought; and such as 

 were steady in their own pack, may become un- 

 steady in yours. I once saw an extraordinary 

 instance of this, when I kept harriers. Hunt- 

 ing one day on the downs, a well-known fox- 

 hound of a neighbouring gentleman came and 

 joined us ; and as he both ran faster than we 

 did, and skirted more, he broke every fault, and 

 killed many hares. I saw this hound often in 

 his own pack afterwards, where he was per- 

 fectly steady ; and though he constantly hunted 

 in covers, where hares were in great plenty, I 

 never remember to have seen him run one step 

 after them. 



I am sorry to hear so bad an accident has 

 l3 



