THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING, ^J 



LETTEk V. 



^TPHERE is an active vanity in the mlads of 

 -*- men which is favourable to improvement, 

 and in every purfuit, while fomething remains to 

 be attained, fo long will it afford amufement; 

 you, therefore, will find pleafure in the breeding 

 of hounds, in which expe6lation is never com- 

 pletely fatisfied, and it is on the fagacious ma- 

 nagement of this bufinefs that all your fuccefs 

 will depend. Is it not extraordinary that no 

 other country fhould equal us in this particular, 

 and that the very hounds procured from hqnce 

 Ibould degenerate in another clin^ate I 



" In thee alone, fair land of liberty!' 

 Is bred the perfect hound, in fcent and fpeed 

 As yet unrivall'd, while in other climes 

 Their virtue fails, a weak degen'rate race." 



SoMERVILE. 



Happy climate for fportfmen ! where nature feems 

 as it were to give them an exclufive privilege of 

 enjoying this diverfion. To preferve, however, 

 this advantage, care fhould be taken in the breed ; 

 I fhall, therefore, according to your defire, fend 

 you fuch rules as I obferve myfelf. Confider the 

 lize, fhape, colour, conftitution, and natural 

 difpolition of the dog you breed from, as well as 

 E ^ the 



