146. THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



ing in the dark : — the otheiv on the contrary, fling an4 

 dash, and are all alive ; but every cold blast afFeds them j 

 and if your country be deep and wet, it is not impossible 

 that some of them may be drowned. My hounds were a 

 ) cross of both these kinds, in which it was my endeavour' 

 to get as much bone and strength in as small a compass 

 as possible. — It was a difficult undertaking. I bred many 

 years, and an infinity of hounds, before I could get what 

 I wanted : I at last had the pleasure to see them very 

 handsome ; small, yet bony : they ran remarkably well 

 |:ogether ; ran fast enough ; had all the alacrity that you 

 could desire -, and would hunt the coldest scent. When 

 they w^ere thus perfeft, 1 did as many others do — I parted 

 ^ith them. 



It may be necessary to unsay (now that I am turned 

 hare-hunter again) many things that I have been saying as 

 a fox-hunter j as I hardly know any two tilings of the same 

 genus (if I may be allowed the expression) that differ 

 so entirely. What I said in a former Letter, about the 

 huntsman and whipper-in, is in the number. As to the 

 huntsman, he should not be young : I should, most cer- 

 tainly, prefer one, as the French call it, d'wt certain age. 



