2.14 THOUGHTS rpON HUNTING. 



When hounds prove unfteady, every pofTible 

 means fhould be taken to make them otherwife. 

 A hare, or a deer, put into the kennel amongft 

 them, may then be necelTary. Huntfmen are too 

 fond of kennel difcipline. You already know 

 my opinion of it. I never allow it but in cafes 

 of great neceffity. I then am always prefcnt my- 

 felf to prevent excefs. To prevent an improper 

 and barbarous ufe of fuch difcipline, I have al- 

 ready told you, is one of the chief obje6ls of 

 thefe letters. If what Montaigne fays be true, that 

 " there is a certain general claim of kindnefs and 

 *' benevolence which every creature has a right 

 " to from us," furely we ought not to fufFer un- 

 neceflary feverity towards an animal to whom we 

 are obliged for fo much diverlion ; and what opi- 

 nion muft we have of the huntfman who inflids 

 it on one to whom he owes his daily bread.* 



* " Perhaps it is not the leafi; extraordinary circumftance in 

 thefe flogging lectures, that they fhould be given with Mon- 

 taigne, or any other moral author whatever, in recollection at 

 the fame inftant !" (Vide Monthly Review.) Perhaps it is not 

 the leaft extraordinary circumftance in thefe criticifms, that 

 this pafTage fliould have been quoted as a proof of the author's 

 .inhumanity. — The critic ends his ftridures with the following 

 exclamation : " Of a truth, a fportfman is the moft uniform, 

 confiflent charafter, from his own reprefentation, that we ever 

 contemplated!" and yet, perhaps, there are fportfmen to be 

 found, poffefled of as tender feelings of humanity as any critic 

 whatfoever. The motto prefixed to thefe letters, if it had beea 

 attended to, might have entitled the author to more candour 

 than the critic has thoucht fit to beftow upon him. 



If 



