THOUGltTS UPON HUNTING* 32J 



^f trouble to pafs by than to retain ; moft books 

 " being fuller of words than matter, and of that 

 -*f which is for th« moil: part very erroneous." — ■ 

 All who have written on the fubje6l of hunting 

 feem to agree in this at leaflj to fpeak indifferently 

 of one another. 



You have obfervcd in one of your letters, that 

 i do not always follow my own rules ; and, as a 

 proof of it, you have remarked that many of my 

 hounds are oddly named: — I cannot deny the 

 charge. I leave a great deal to my huntfman; 

 but if you aim at perfedion, leave as little as you. 

 can help to your's. It is eaiier, I believe, in 

 every inftance, to know what is right than it is to 

 follow it ; but if the rules I have given be good, 

 what does It tignify to you whether I follow them 

 QY not ? A country fellow ufed to call every di- 

 recting poft he faw a doctor. He was afked, why 

 he called them fo ? " Why, mafler," faid he, " I 

 ^* never fee them but they put me in mind of the 

 " parfon of our parifli, who conftantly points^ 

 ^' out a road to us he does not follow himfelf.'* 



If I can add to the amufement of fuch as fol- 

 low this diveriion, I fliall not think my time has 

 been ill employed ; and if the rules which are 

 here given may any ways tend to preferve that 

 friendly animal the hound from one unneceflary 

 lafhj I fhall not think they have been written in 

 Y 2, vain. 



