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SHEEP-KILLERS. 



happened to your pack, as that of killing sheep ; 

 but I apprehend, from your account of it, that 

 it proceeded from idleness, rather than vice. 

 The manner in which the sheep were killed may 

 give you some insight into it : old practitioners 

 generally seizing by the neck, and seldom, if 

 ever, behind. This, like other vices, sometimes 

 runs in the blood : in an old hound it is, I 

 believe, incorrigible; the best way, therefore, 

 will be to hang all those which, after two or 

 three whippings, cannot be cured of it. In 

 some countries hounds are more inclined to kill 

 sheep than they are in others. Hounds may be 

 steady in countries where the covers are fenced, 

 and sheep are only to be seen in flocks, either in 

 large fields, or on open downs; and the same 

 hounds may be unsteady in forests and heathy 

 countries, where the sheep are not less wild than 

 the deer. However, hounds, should they move 

 but a step after them, should undergo the 

 severest discipline : if young hounds do it from 

 idleness, that, and plenty of work, may reclaim 

 them ; for old hounds, guilty of this vice, I 

 know, as I said before, of but one sure remedy, 

 the halter. 



Though I so strongly recommend to you to 

 make your hounds steady, from having seen 



