THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 1 73 



always follow their own prefcrlptions ? Is it not 

 fuffieient that their prefcriptions be good ? How- 

 ever, if my hounds fhould be out of blood, I go 

 out early, for then it becomes neceffary to give 

 them every advantage. At an early hour, you 

 are fcldom long before you find. The morning 

 is the part of the day which generally affords the 

 beft fccnt ; and the animal himfelf, which, in 

 fuch a cafe, you are more than CYer delirous of 

 killing, is then leaft able to run away from you. 

 The want of reft, and perhaps a full belly, give 

 hounds a great advantage over him. I expert, 

 my friend, that you will reply to this, " that a 

 "fox-hunter, then, is not th fair fportfrnan^ — 

 He certainly is not ; and what is more, would be 

 very forry to be miftaken for one. He is otherwife 

 from principle. In his opinion, a fair fportfman, 

 and a foolifh fportfman, are fynonimous; he, 

 therefore, takes every advantage of the fox he 

 can. You will think, perhaps, that he may 

 fometimes fpoil his own fport by this ? It is true, 

 he fometimes does, but then he makes his hounds; 

 the whole art of fox-hunting being to keep the 

 hounds well in blood. Sport is but a fecondary 

 coniidcration with a fox-hunter ; the firft is, tlie 

 Vill'mg ijf the fox: hence arifes the eagernefs of 

 purfuit, chief pleafure of the chace : — I confefs, 

 I efleem blood fo necefiary to a pack of fox- 

 hounds, that with regard to myfelf, I always re- 

 turn liome better pleafed with but an indifferent 

 J chace. 



