THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. ig^ 



fyr he is killed fometimes very unexpe6ledly. If 

 hounds have ever prefTed him, he is worth your 

 trouble; perfeverance may recover him, and, if 

 recovered^ he moft probably will be killed ; nor 

 Ihould you defpair, whilil any fcent remains. 

 The bufinefs of a huntfman is only difficult when 

 the fcent dies quite away ; and it is then he may 

 fhew /lis judgment, when the hounds are no 

 longer able to fhew theirs. The recovering a 

 loft fcent, and getting nearer to the fox by a long 

 caft, requires genius, and is, therefore, what few 

 huntfmen are equal to. When hounds are no 

 longer capable of feeling the fcent, it all rells 

 with the huntfman ; either the game is entirely 

 given up, or is only to be recovered by him, and 

 is the efFedl of real genius, fpirit, and obferva- 

 tion. 



When hounds are at cold hunting, with a bad 

 fcent, it may then be a proper time to fend a 

 whipper-in forward ; if he can fee the fox, a lit- 

 tle mobbing, at fuch a time as this, may reafon- 

 ably be allowed. 



When hounds are put to a check on a high 

 road, by the fox being headed back, if in that 

 particular inftance you fuifer them to try back, 

 it gives them the belt chance of hitting off the 

 fcent again, as they may try on both lides at 

 once. 



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