no THOUGHTS UPON HUNTINC. 



which he has often felt, I know will stop. I also know 

 that he will commit the same fault again, if he has beeii 

 accustomed to be guilty of it. 



Obedience, you very rightly observe, is a necessary qua- 

 lity in a hound, for he is useless without it. It is, therefore, 

 an excellent principle for a huntsman to set out upon ; yet, 

 good as it is, I think it may be carried too far. I would not 

 have him insist on too much, or torment his hounds maUa^ 

 propos, by forcibly exading from them what is not abso- 

 lutely necessary to your diversion. He intends, you say, to 

 enter your young hounds at hare : is it to teach them obe- 

 dience ? — Does he mean to encourage vice in them, for the 

 sake of correcting it afterwards ? — I have heard, indeed, 

 that the way to make hounds steady from hare, is to enter 

 them at hare*^ that is, to encourage them to hunt her. 

 The belief of so strange a paradox requires more faith than- 

 I can pretend to. 



* In proper hands, either method may do. The method here proposed 

 seems best suited to fox-hounds in general, as well as to those who have 

 the direction of them. The talents of some men are superior to all rules ; 

 nor is their success any positive proof of the goodness of their method.— 

 See page 88, 



