220 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



draft-hounds myfelf, and they have been very 

 good ; but they were the gift of the friend men- 

 tioned by me in a former letter, to whom I have 

 already acknowledged many obligations; and, 

 unlets you meet with fuch a one, old hounds 

 w ill not prove w^orthy your acceptance :* befides, 

 they may bring vices enough along with thcrr^ 

 to tpoll your whole pack. If old hounds fhould 

 be nnfteady, it may not be in your power tQ 

 make them ptherwife ; and I c^n aflurc; you from 

 experience, th^t an unfleady old hound will give 

 you more trouble than all your young ones; the 

 fatter will at Icaft Hop, but an oblHnate old hound 

 -^'ill frequently run mute, if he find that he can 

 run no other way ; befidcs, old hqunds that are 

 unacquainted with your people will not readily 

 hunt for them as they ought ; and fuch as were 

 fteady in their own pack may become unfleady in 

 your's. I once faw an extraordinary iniiance of 

 this when I kept harriers : hunting one day on the 

 downs, a well-known fox-hound of a neighbour- 

 ing gentleman came and joined us, and as he 

 both Yi\n fafler than wc did, and fkirted more, he 

 broke every fault, and killed many hares. I faw 

 this hound often \n his ovyn pack afterwards, 

 where he was perfedly ftcady ; and, though he 

 gonflantly hunted in covers where hares were iHj 



* The Hon. Mr. Booth Grey, brother to the Earl of Stam- 

 ford. The hounds here alluded to were from Lord Stamford's 

 kennel. 



great 



