PERSEVERE IN BAD WEATHER. 257 



is a great fault in a huntsman to persevere 

 in bad weather, when hounds cannot run, and 

 when there is not a probability of killing a fox. 

 Some there are, who, after they have lost one 

 fox for want of scent to hunt him by, will 

 find another ; this makes their hounds slack, 

 and sometimes vicious : it also disturbs the co- 

 vers to no purpose. Some sportsmen are more 

 lucky in their days than others. If you hunt 

 every other day, it is possible they may be all 

 bad, and the intermediate days all good ; an 

 indifferent pack, therefore, by hunting on good 

 days, may kill foxes, without any merit ; and 

 a good pack, notwithstanding all their exertion, 

 may lose foxes which they deserve to kill. 

 Had I a sufficiency of hounds, I would hunt 

 on every good day, and never on a bad one.* 



A perfect knowledge of his country certainly 

 is a great help to a huntsman : if yours, as 

 yet, has it not, great allowance ought to be 



• On windy days, or such as are not likely to afford any 

 scent for hounds, it is better, I think, to send them to be 

 exercised on the turnpike-road ; it will do them less harm 

 than hunting with them might do, and more good than if 

 they were to remain confined in their kennel : for though 

 nothing makes hounds so handy as taking them out oflen, 

 nothing inclines them so much to riot as taking them out 

 to hunt when there is little or no scent, and particularly on 

 windy days, when they cannot hear one another. 



