THE HARE-HUNTER. 271 



LETTER XXI. 



Your huntsman, you say, has hunted a pack 

 of harriers. It might have been better, per- 

 haps, had he never seen one ; since fox-hunting 

 and hare-hunting differ ahnost in every particu- 

 lar : so much so, that I think it might not be 

 an improper negative definition of fox-hunting 

 to say, it is, of all hunting, that which resem- 

 bles hare-hunting the least. A good huntsman 

 to a pack of harriers seldom succeeds in fox- 

 hunting : like old hounds, they dwell upon the 

 scent, and cannot get forward; nor do they 

 ever make a bold cast, so much are they afraid 

 of leaving the scent behind them. Hence it is 

 that they poke about, and try tiie same place 

 ten times over, rather than they will leave it ; 

 and when they do, are totally at a loss which 

 way to go, for want of knowing the nature of 

 the animal they are in pursuit of. As hare- 

 hounds should scarcely ever be cast, hallooed, 

 or taken off their noses, they think to hunt their 

 fox-hounds in the same manner ; but it will not 



