114 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



You have conceived an idea, perhaps, that a fox-hound 

 is designed by Nature to hunt a fox : yet, surely, if that 

 were your opinion, you would not think of entering him 

 at any other game. I cannot, however, suppose Nature 

 designed the dog which we call a fox-hound to hunt fox 

 only, since we very well know that he will also hunt other 

 animals. That a well bred fox-hound may give a pre- 

 ference to vermin, cceteris paribus, I will not dispute : 

 it is very possible he may ; but of this 1 am certain, 

 that every fox-hound will leave a bad scent of fox for a 

 good one of either hare or deer, unless he has been made 

 steady from them ; and in this I shall not fear to be con- 

 tradided. But, as I do not wish to enter into abstruse 

 reasoning with you, or think it in anywise material to our 

 present purpose, whether the dogs we call fox-hounds were 

 originally designed by Nature to hunt fox, or not, we will 

 drop the subjeft. I must, at the same time, beg leave to 

 observe, that dogs are not the only animals in Vv'hich an 

 extraordinary diversity of species has happened since the 

 days of Adam. Yet a great naturalist tells us, that man 

 is nearer, by eight degrees, to Adam, than is the dog to 

 the first dog of his race; since the age of man is four- 

 score years, and that of a dog but ten. It therefore fol- 



