fiS" TilOUGIITS UPON HtJNTING. 



after good sport in hunting; nor is the rest of the day 

 ever disagreeable to me. What are other sports, com- 

 pared vvilh this, which is full of enthusiasm ! — Fishing is, 

 in my opinion^ a dull diversion ; shooting, though it admit 

 of a companion, will not allow of many : — both, therefore, 

 may be considered as selfish and solitary amusements, 

 compared v;ith hunting} to which as many as please are 

 welcome : — the one might teach patience to a philosopher 5. 

 and the other, though it occasion great fatigue to the 

 body, seldom affords much occupation to the mind ; 

 whereas fox-huntijig is a kind of warfare; its uncertain- 

 ties, its fatigues, its difficulties, and its dangers, rendering, 

 it interesting above all other diversions. — That you may 

 more readily pardon this digression, I return to answer your 

 letter now before me. 



I AM glad to hear that your men have good voices ; 

 mine, unluckily, have not. There is a friend of miner 

 who hunts his own hounds : his voice is the strangest^ 

 ^nd his halloos the oddest, I ever heard. He has,, how- 

 ever, this advantage — no dog can possibly mistake his 

 halloo for another's. Singulurity constitutes an essential 

 part of a huntsman's halloo :, it is for that reason alone,," 



