TttOtJGHTS UPON HUNTING. 35 



greater number. Hounds, to be good, mufl be 

 kept conftantly hunted ; and if I fliould hereafter 

 fay, a fox-hound fliould be above his work, it 

 will not be a young fox-hound I fball mean ; for 

 he fhould feldom be left at home, as long as he is 

 able to hunt : the old and lame, and fuch as are 

 low in fiefli, you fhould leave ; and fuch as you 

 are fure idlenefs cannot fpoil. 



It is a great fault to keep too many old hounds. 

 If you choofe that your hounds fhould run well 

 together, you fhould not continue any, longer 

 than five or fix feafons ; though there is no faying 

 with certainty, what number of feafons a hound 

 will laft. Like us, fome of them have better con- 

 iVitutions than others, and confcquently will bear 

 more work ; and the duration of all bodies de- 

 pends as much on the ufage that they may meet 

 with as on the materials of which they are made. 



You afk, whether you had not better buy a 

 complete pack at once, than be at the trouble of 

 breeding one ? Certainly you had, if fuch an op- 

 portunity fliould offer. It fometimes happens, 

 that hounds are to be bought for lefs money than 

 you could breed them. The gentleman to whom 

 my houfe formerly belonged, had a moft famous 

 pack of fox-hounds. His goods, &c. were ap- 

 praifed and fold ; which, when the appraifer had 



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