1^8 THOUGHTS ITFON HUNTING. 



*< favottr oi*your grace — that you would let me take field- 

 ** money again ; for 1 have not half the pleasure now in 

 *' killing a fox that I had before/' 



As you ask my opinion of scent, I think I had better give 

 k you before we begin on the subjedt of huntings I must* 

 at the same time, take the liberty of telling you, that you 

 have puzzled me exceedingly ; for scent is, 1 believe, what 

 we sportsmen know least about j and, to use the words of a 

 great classic writer^ 



Hoc su:ii (ontentus, quod etiarti si qui quiJque fiat ignorentj quid 

 fiat hitelligo, Gi c. de Div< 



SoMERviLLE, who, as I have before observed, is the only 

 one that 1 know of who has thrown any light on the sub- 

 ject of hunting, sJlys, I tliink, but little about scent. I send 

 you his words : I shall afterwards add a few of my own, 



•* Should some more cjrious sportsmen here inquire^ 



Whence this sagacity, this wond'rous power 



Of tracing step by step or man or brute ? 



What guide invisible points out their way 



O'er the dank marsh, bleak hill, and sandy plain ? 



"The courteous Muse shall the dark cause reveal. 



