OF STEADINESS. 229 



cautious, at the beginning of the season, what 

 hounds they halloo to ; for if they should be 

 encouraged on a wrong scent, it will be a great 

 hurt to them. 



The first day that you hunt in the forest, be 

 also particularly cautious what hounds you take 

 out. All should be steady from deer : you 

 afterwards may put others to them, a few at 

 a time. I have seen a pack draw steadily 

 enough ; and yet, when running hard, fall on a 

 weak deer, and rest as contented as if they had 

 killed their fox. These hounds were not chas- 

 tised, though caught in the fact, but were suf- 

 fered to draw on for a fresh fox : I had rather 

 they had undergone severe discipline. The 

 finding of another fox with them afterwards 

 might then have been of service ; otherwise, 

 in my opinion, it could only serve to encourage 

 them in the vice, and make them worse and 

 worse. 



I must mention an instance of extraordinary 

 sagacity in a fox beagle, which once belonged 

 to the Duke of Cumberland. I entered him 

 at hare, to which he was immediately so steady, 

 that he would run nothing else. When a fox 

 was found by the beagles, which sometimes 

 happened, he would constantly come to the 



