302 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTINGj 



nor arc you lb liable to change as in othef' 

 covers.* 



Acquainted as I am with your fentiments, it 

 would be needlcfs to defire you to be cautiou?. 

 how you buy foxes. The price fome men pay for 

 them might well encourage tlie robbing of every 

 hunt in the kingdom, their own not accepted. — 

 But you defpife the ^i d'lj'cmt gentleman who re- 

 ceives thicm, more than the poor thief who takes 

 them. — Some gentlemen alk no queftions, and 

 flatter themfclves they have found out that coa ^ 

 venient //lezzo tenuino for the eafy accommoda- 

 tion of their conlcienccs. 



With rclpcct to the digging of foxes you run 

 to ground ; what I mylelf have obferved in that 

 bniincfs, I will encle.ivour to rccoUedl:. My peo- 

 ple ufually, 1 think, follow the hole, cxct])t when 

 the earth is large, and the terriers have fixed the 

 fox in an angle of it ; for they then And it a 

 more ex^^editious method to fink a pit as near to 



* A fwv, when prefTcd by hounds, will feldom go inio a 

 fur'ze-brake. Rabbits, which are the fox's favourite food, may 

 alfo be encouraged tfiere, and yet do little damage. Were they 

 fufFered to eflablidi themfclves in your woods, it would be dif- 

 ficult to deftroy t'lem nfterwards. Thus far 1 object to them a'j 

 a farmej ; I obje^: to them, alfo, as a fo.x-huuter ; fince nothing. 

 Is more prejuuicirJ to the breeding of foxes, than dilUirbing your 

 u'oods, late iu the feafoji, to dcftroy the rabbits. 



him 



