THOITGHTS UPON HUNTING. li6^ 



fatigue than pleafure. It is faid, there is a fha^ 

 Jiere in being mad which only madmen know ; and it 

 is the enthufiafm, I believe^ of fox-hunting which 

 is its befl fupporl ; ilrip it of that, and you had 

 better leave it quite alone. 



The hounds themfelves alfo differ in their man- 

 ner of hunting : the'^beagle, who has always his 

 nofe to the ground, will puzzle an hour on one 

 fpot fooner than he will leave the fcent ; while 

 the fox-hound, full of life and fpirit, is always 

 dafhing and trying forward. A high-bred fox- 

 hound, therefore, fhews himfelf to inoft advan- 

 tage when foxes are at their Urongefl and run an 

 end. A pack of harriers will kill a cub better, 

 perhaps, than a pack of fox-hounds; but when 

 foxes are ftrong, they have not the method of get- 

 ting on with the fcent which fox-hounds have, 

 and generally tire themfelves before the fox. To 

 kill foxes when they are lirong, hounds muft run 

 as well as hunt ; befides, catching a fox by hard 

 running is always preferred in the opinion of a 

 fox'hunter. Much depends, in my opinion, on 

 •the fl:34e in which it is done ; and I think, with- 

 out being fophiftical, a diftin61:ion might be made 

 betwixt huntino; a fox and fox-huntinof. Two 

 hackneys become not racers by running round a 

 courfe, nor does the mere hunting of a fox change 

 the nature of the harrier. I have alfo feen a hare 

 hunted by high-bred fox-iiounds ; yet, I confefs 



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