222 THOLTGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



them, fiiould undergo the feverell difciplmc ; if 

 young hounds do it from idlenefs, t/iat, and plenty 

 of workj may reclaim them ; for old bounds, 

 guilty of this vice, I know, as I faid before, of 

 but one fure remedy — ;t/ie halter. 



Though I fo f^rongly recommend to you \xy 

 make your hounds Iteady, from having feen un- 

 f^cady packs, yet I mu/l alfo add, that I have 

 frequently fecn the men even more unfteady than 

 the hounds. It is fhocking to hear hounds hal- 

 looed one minute and rated the next : nothing 

 offends a good fportfman fo much, or is in itfelf 

 fo hurtful. I M'ill give you an inflance of the 

 danger of it; — my beagles were remarkably 

 ftcady ; they hunted hare in Cranborn Chace, 

 where deer are in great plenty, and would draw 

 for hours without taking the leafl notice of them. 

 When tired of hare-hunting, I was inclined to 

 try if I could find any diverfion in hunting of 

 fallow deer. I had been told, that it would be 

 impolTible to do it with thofe hounds that had 

 been made fteady from them ; and, io put it to 

 the trial, I took them into a cover of my own, 

 which has many ridings cut in it, and wdiere are 

 many deer. The firfl deer we faw we hallooed, 

 and by great encouragement, and confiant hal- 

 looing, there were but few of thefe fieady hounds 

 but would run the fcent. They hunted deer con- 

 fiantly from that day^ and never lofl one after- 



v/ards. 



