THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING, 



LETTER XV. 



197 



I LEFT off just as I had found the fox : I now, there- 

 fore, with your leave, will suppose that the hounds are run- 

 ning him. You desire that 1 would be more particular with 

 regard to the men : it was always my intention.— To begin, 

 then — The huntsman ought certainly to set off with his 

 foremost hounds, and I should wish him to keep as close to 

 them afterwards as.he conveniently can j nor can any harm 

 arise from it, unless he should not have common sense. No 

 hounds then can slip down the wind, and get out of his 

 hearing : he will also see how far they carry the scent ; a 

 necessary requisite ;-^for, without it, he never can make a 

 cast with any certainty. 



You will find it not less necessary for your huntsman 

 to be adive in pressing his hounds forward*, while the 



* Pressing hounds on, is perhaps a dangerous expression ; as more harm 

 may be done by pressing them beyond the scent, when it is good, than 

 when it is bad. However, it means no more than to get forward the tail 

 hounds, and to encourage the others to push on as fast as they can while 

 the scent serves them. ■ 



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