148 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING, 



The covert's utmoft bound 



Slily fhe ftirts; behind them cautious creeps, 



And in that very track, fo lately ftain'd 



By all the fleaming crowd, feenis to purfue 



The foe file flies." — Somervile, 



When the hounds are at a check, make your 

 huntfman ftand i\i\\, nor lliffer him to move his 

 horfe one way or the other: hounds lean natu- 

 rally toward the Icent, and if you fay not a word 

 to them, will foon recover it. If you Ipeak io 

 a hound at fuch a thne, calling him by his name, 

 which is too much the pra6lice, he feldom fails 

 to look up in your face, as much as to fay, whaf 

 the deuce do yoii ivatit? — when he (loops to the 

 fcent again, is it not probable that he means to 

 fay. You fool, you, let me alone. 



When your hounds are at faulty let not a 

 word be faid : let fuch as follow them ignorantly 

 and unworthily ftand all aloof — Proculy pro ml 

 ejie prof am! for whilft fuch are chattering, not a 

 hound will hunt. A ■propos, Sir, a politician 

 will fay — What news from America .' A pro- 

 mos — Do you think both the admirals will be 

 tried ? Or, propos — Did you hear what has 

 happened to my grandmother? Such qucflions 

 are, at fuch a time, extremely troublcfomc, and 

 very mal-a-proj)os. Amongft the ancients, it was 

 reckoned an III omen to fpeak in hunting — I with 

 jt were thought io now. Hoc age fliould be one 



of 



