264 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



It were of a different fpecies, fhould be clafled 

 apart; — I mean, iuch as have real genius. It is 

 this peculiar excellence, which I told you in a 

 former letter, I would rather wifh my firft whip- 

 per-in to be poflelTed of than my huntfman ; and 

 one reafon among others, is, tliat he, I think, 

 would have more opportunities of exercifmg it. 



The keepin<r hounds clean and healthy, and 

 bringing them into the field in their fuUeft vigour, 

 is the excellence of a good kennel huntfman :* if, 

 belides this, he makes his hounds both love and 

 fear him ; if lie be adVive, and prefs them on, 

 vvhilft the feent is good, always aiming to keep 

 as n^ar to (hi fox as he can ; if, when his hounds 

 are at fault, he make his caft with judgment, not 

 cafting the wrong way firil:, and only blunder- 

 ing upon the right at lafi as many do ; if, added 



* To make the mod of a pack of hounds, and bring 

 them into the field in their fuUeft vigour, is an excellence that 

 huntimenare very deficient in. — To obtain a knowledge of the 

 different conftitutions of fo many animals, requires more difcern- 

 ment than moft huntfmen are endowed with. — To apply that 

 knowledge, by making feparate drafts when they feed them, 

 would alfo take up more time than they choofe to beftow ; hence 

 it is, that they generally are fed all together : — they may be well 

 fed, but I much doubt if they are ever made the mofi: of — fuch 

 as require to b" fed a little at a time, and often mufl, I believe, 

 be contented with a little only. — Few huntfmen feem fond of their 

 hounds; — one reafon of it, perhaps, may be, that they are paid 

 for looking after them. 



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