S6 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



LETTER Vir. 



T TNLESS I had kept a regular journal of all that 

 ^^ has been done in the kennel from the time 

 when my young hounds were tirll taken in, to the 

 end of the laft feafon, it would be impolfible, J 

 think, to anfwer all the queftions which in your lafi 

 letter you aik concerning them. I wifh that a me- 

 mory', which is far from a good one, would en- 

 able me to give the information you defire. If I 

 am to be more circumftantial than in my former 

 letter, I muil recollecV, as well as I can, the re- 

 gular fyftem of my own kennel ; and if I am tq 

 write from memory, you will, without doubt, ex- 

 cufe the want of the lucidus ordo : — it fhall be my 

 endeavour, that the information thefe letters con- 

 tain, fhall not miflead you. 



You wifh me to explain what I mean by 

 hounds being handy — it retpe(51s their readinefs to 

 do whatever is required of them ; and particularly, 

 when call:, to turn eafdy whicli way the huntf- 

 man pleaies.* 



* My hounds are frequently walked about the courts of the 

 kennel, the whipper-in following them, and rating them after 

 the huntfman ; this, and the fending them out, (after they have 

 been fed,) with the people on foot, contribute greatly to make 

 them handy. 



I was 



