iq8 thoughts upon hunting. 



scent is good, than to be prudent in not hurrying them 

 beyond it v/hen it is bad. Your's, you say, is a good 

 horseman : it is of the utmost consequence to your sport ; 

 nor is it possible for a huntsman to be of much use who 

 is not ; for the first thing, and the very sine qua non, of a 

 fox-hunter, is to ride up to his headmost hounds. It is 

 his business to be ready at all times to lend them that 

 assistance which they so frequently need, and which, when 

 they are first at a fault, is then most critical. A fox-hound 

 at that time will exert himself most : he afterwards cools, 

 and becomes more indifferent about his game. Those 

 huntsmen who do not get forward enough to take advan- 

 tage of this eagerness and impetuosity, and dired it pro- 

 perly, seldom know enough of hunting to be of much 

 use to them afterwards. 



You will perhaps find it m.ore difficult to keep your 

 v;hipper-in back, than to get your huntsman forward ; at 

 least, 1 always have found it so*. It is, however, necessary ; 



* Though a huntsman cannot be too fond of hunting, a whipper-in 

 easily may. His business will seldom allow him to be forward enough 

 with the hounds to see much of the sport. His only thought, therefore, 

 sheuld be to keep the hounds together, and to contribute as much as he 

 can to the killing of the fox. 



